Nit-picking trivia:

“Geckos’ feet are covered with microscopic hair-like projections that stick electrostatically to anything they touch.”

Electrostatically, hell. Their little “projections” stick into and grab crevices in the surfaces (often stucco) where they hang out. Or down from. Mechanical. Something I’ve always admired about geckos.”

(yeah, I realize I’m years late…)

Nope. Geckos’s seta (the hairs on their feet) allow them to climb amazingly smooth surfaces, using van der Waals force, which is indeed an electro-static force. people are hard at work trying to make glue and tapes taking advantage of the effect, but nothing is yet available commercially.
There are interesting garment possiblities, though: imagine a better velcro, that’s invisible or nearly so, doesn’t add an extra set of layers to the closed area, and is silent to open or close. I’m sure there’s more, that’s the only thing that occurs to me without thinking about it.

But one thing I request every one to think up on is”Where will all those Sewing and other operators working in this field go? ”

Do we need this technological advancement? Don’t we feel that “Only big game players will be in a position to use this technology”. And this even increases the cost of production!!!

From consumer point of view, if a consumer is ready to pay that price (the price of a garment that is being sewed by robots) , he/she would as well go for designer wear.What do u say?

The study and use of robotics is prevalent in undergarment manufacturing and is progressing into more complex patterns with reasonable results and quality.

Christopher
http://www.americasbestcleaners.com

It’s pure economics. If you can reduce wastage from the production process, you will be profitable. When working on mass produced jackets $35 a meter fabrics, it behooves you not to have somebody screw up your fabric.

Some garments may lend themselves more likely to be processed. Materials that are more rigid are more likely – maybe not all steps would be automated. As it comes closer to reality it will be interesting to see to how fabrics will be developed to take advantage of the automated processes. This is just speculation based on how I’ve seen processes and condition of materials change … they usually change in tandem. Materials as we know them now may change.

For example: During the manufacturing the fabric may arrive much more heavily sized/starched so that when heat/pressure is applied to it and shaped over a form to make it semi-rigid so the pieces can be fitted together (e.g. seams could be at some angle so they are brought together in such a way that are more readily machine accessible). “Invisible” dots/lines that the machine can see (placed on the original material or be the cutting forming process) will allow to align fabric bias, design alignment, etc. A new type of sizing may be such that if cut with a laser there is a small heat affected zone say 1/64th inch that prevents edge fraying and reduces the need for serging (you‘d be surprised how small the heat affected zone is on metals cut with a laser and cloth lacks the conductivity metal does). The garment is then washed and whatever else for final packaging. Maybe only ortions of the process will be automated.

Will the consumer like it? I don’t know.

I agree I don’t see how it will be able to sew on an adjustable form described AT THIS TIME. But then again Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner is mainly carbon fiber and I’ve seen machines weave complex shapes that become the final aircraft parts. They have a machine now that can nearly duplicate how a person can rotate their wrist when polishing a part in tight areas. I was amazed the first time I saw it doing one. The process on a per part basis takes about 50% longer – but the process is way way more consistent and scrap is now unheard of. Of course the machine doesn’t take a break and works nearly 24/7 so it’s daily through put is much closer so that overall it produces a higher quality part at a slightly higher cost – and contrary to popular belief/propaganda sometimes quality costs more, it isn’t always free (as in process improvement will recover all the costs)

I don’t think sewing will ever be fully automated especially at most of the DE levels that have smaller productions runs, the cost of automating is too high. But you may see develop are companies that do short production runs for numerous people. Job shops.

Hope this didn’t bore y’all but I work as a Supplier Quality Assurance Rep for commerical and military jets engines. Myjob is to drive process control, process certification, and lean manufacturing, I help manufacturers look at how things are done and how improvements can be made. (Particularly for dependability … I, my family and friends fly a lot so I have a very vested interest in making flying safe).

Who knows, maybe in the future people will be looking for “work shop” label so they know their item was made by hand.

Dave

As a former biotech geek, I can’t help but lump this in the same category as genetically engineered food. When the research began, conformity & yield were the most valued properties in food, and the greatest advances in agricultural productivity came from mechanized farming (aka technology). It seemed like a smart idea to explore the next technology that could increase productivity & uniformity in the same vein. By the time the research was bearing fruit (tee hee), the tide of consumer opinion had started to turn, and the resulting backlash against “frankenfoods” destroyed some honestly valiant and noble research efforts (like golden rice…sigh). Now, the hottest things in agriculture are organic foods, heirloom varietals and farmer’s markets/buying local. Even Walmart has gotten into the act. yay agricultural diversity!

In other words, the pace of research like that is so slow that by the time it pans out, people may have returned to home sewing, or one-of-a-kinds may be the hot thing….leaving fancy, over-specialized machines to rot in a basement. Still, they may learn some really great techniques along the way to help human operators make quality clothes more safely and efficiently–who knows?