ylkingsbury@watdragon.waterloo.edu (Yvonne Kingsbury) (05/12/89)
ICR presents a colloquium on
Applications of Robotics in the Apparel Industries
by Dr. Gaynor E. Taylor
of Dept. of Electrical Engineering, University of Hull, U.K.
ABSTRACT
The manufacture of clothing and footwear initially appears an ideal area for the
application of robotics. The developed nations are looking to increase quality
and productivity in these industries to offset competition from low wage
economies and see increasing automation as the way to achieve these goals.
However, rapidly changing fashion, together with a wide range of sizes, leads
to small batches of any one product and thus fixed or `hard' automation is
inappropriate for many tasks. Programmable robotic automation would appear to
be the solution, but a number of problems are encountered in apparel assembly
which are very different from those in more traditional robotic tasks such as
welding and spray painting. The materials involved are limp and non-homogen-
eous, they deform during the assembly in ways which are not easily predictable
and cloth pieces tend to cling together - all these properties lead to handling
problems which must be overcome prior to any attempt at joining parts together.
The joining process itself can involve particularly complex and dextrous
movements such as occur, for example, when setting a sleeve into a garment where
two-dimensional pieces of cloth are stitched together to produce a three-dimensional object. Finally many operatives are inspecting as well as assembling and
this function must also be carried out in any successful workcell. The
Department of Electronic Engineering at the University of Hull in the UK has
been carrying out research into the problems described above for the past
eight years. The seminar will review this work, which has been partly funded
by the apparel industry, showing how the various problems have been tackled by
incorporating sensors and special gripping devices onto standard commercial
robots. The particular assemblies to be described include underwear, shirt
collars and the bonding of soles to shoes.
Wednesday, May 17, 1989
3:30 p.m.
DC 1302
Everyone is welcome. Refreshments served.