INTRODUCTION TO

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

TOPIC: Robotics in Apparel Manufacturing

Submitted By:
Ankita Kumari (BFT/18/244)
Shagun Sinha (BFT/18/172)
Tanya Choudhary (BFT/18/899)
 Robotics and Artificial Intelligence

Robots are programmable machines that

are usually able to carry out a series of
actions autonomously, or semi-
autonomously. Artificial intelligence
involves developing computer programs to
complete tasks that would otherwise
require human intelligence. AI algorithms
can tackle learning, perception, problem-
solving, language-understanding and/or
logical reasoning. Robotics is a branch of AI,
which is composed of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and
Computer Science for designing, construction, and application of robots.

Aspects of Robotics:
 The robots have
mechanical
construction, form, or
shape designed to
accomplish a particular
task.
 They have electrical
components which
power and control the
machinery.
 They contain some level of computer program that determines what,
when and how a robot does something.
 Artificially intelligent robots are the bridge between robotics and AI.
 These are robots that are controlled by AI programs .
 Why Industry need robots?
Eliminate a
 Eliminate a human operator.
 Human is bad for the product (Ex: semiconductor).
 Product is bad for the human (Ex: radioactive).
 Replace human operators where there is danger.
 Maintain Quality.
 To save labour and reduce cost.
 Human is bad for the product (Ex: semiconductor handling.)
 Working with harmful matter.
 Avoid repetitive strain syndrome.
 Robotics in Apparel Industry
The automation revolution has arrived in fashion. The apparel stitching by
robots has shown that the clothing industry was among the first to be
mechanized. Electric sewing machines have been in use for well over a
hundred years. But the need is that they require skilled human hands to guide
the materials. Now as robotic automation has evolved, it has considerably
reduced the number of workers needed for mass production of clothing.
Sewbots have evolved by igniting a transformation in the field of clothes
manufacturing. The apparel manufacturing, supply chains and speed of
delivery can all be brought to limelight in case of speedy processing. These
could have significant implications for the promotional products industry,
where apparel accounts for 39% of annual industry sales, according to SOI
data.
A Georgia Tech spin-off, SoftWear Automation in Atlanta, claims to have built a
practical sewing robot. And it doesn’t need starch. Rather, it’s based on a much
higher-tech approach, one that combines machine vision and advanced
manipulators.
This is a big achievement for Atlanta based brand SoftWear Automation, which
launched in 2012. The company’s Sewbots use a combination of patented high-
speed computer vision and lightweight robotics to steer fabric to and through
the needle with greater speed and accuracy than humans.
 SewBots
Sewbots are actually robots that are installed in the apparel industry with
enhanced robotic and machine technology.
For example, LOWRY from SoftWear Automation, industrial robots by Sewbo.
Inc, Maica automated lines and automated machines by Atlanta Attachment
Company.

In 2016 a robot-based sewing system with the name SEWBO was introduced.
The system was developed by Sewbo, Inc., Seattle, United States. With the
help of an industrial robot, all necessary seams of a T-shirt were automatically
sewn for the first time. This was possible by the fact that the textiles were
previously treated with a water-soluble polymer and become rigid by this
preliminary process.
 SEWBO – The Sewing Robot
 Sewbots are actually robots that are installed in the apparel industry with
enhanced robotic and machine technology. .
 Sewbo, an industrial robot programmed to tackle the tricky task,
assembles clothes and makes it look easy.
 Sewbo tackles this by impregnating the fabric with PVA, a non- toxic
biodegradable polymer.
 The temporarily stiffened fabric then can be processed as if it were sheet
metal.
 It can be welded, moulded, and most importantly, grabbed and sewn by
the robot in a repeatable manner.
 From the finished garment, the PVA is removed by simply rinsing it with
warm water.
How Sewing Robots Work:
 The Sewbot work-line robots rely on high speed cameras, which see the
individual threads in fabric, pinpointing the exact location where a
needle strikes and adjusting the garment accordingly.
 Sewbot work-line can produce nearly twice as many finished t- shirts in
an eight-hour shift as manual sewing can run 24 hours a day.
 It’s 80 percent more efficient. Working across a 70-foot long t-shirt
production line, the robot performs each task, including cutting, sewing
a seam, adding a sleeve, and quality inspection.
 Each step of the way, the computer vision guides the fabric.
 Then comes the patented machine vision system. ID Tech Ex says that it
has higher accuracy than the human eye, “tracking exact needle
placement to within half a millimetre of accuracy.” IEEE explains that it
tracks each individual thread within the fabric.
 “To do that, the company developed a specialized camera capable of
capturing more than 1,000 frames per second, and a set of image-
processing algorithms to detect, on each frame, where the threads are.”
 Using this high calibre machine vision and real-time analysis, the robotics
then continually manipulate and adjust the fabric to be properly
arranged.
 The Pick & Place machine mimics how a seamstress would move and
handle fabric
Working:
 The fabric is moved using two methods.
 The first is a four-axis robotic arm that can lift and place the fabric using
a vacuum gripper.
 The second is a 360-degree conveyor system which is a table of
embedded spherical rollers.
 With each roller, or budger Ball, moving independently at high speeds,
the rollers can relocate the fabric or smooth the fabric as needed.
 Yet the sewing itself is also done a little differently.
 The direct sewing process means that rather than the fabric moving
through a stationary sewing machine, the Sewbots move the needle
rather than the fabric
 The Lowry
The LOWRY system is a four-axis robot that can be used for fabric handling,
pick and place operations, as well as direct sewing.
The system uses high speed visual sensors to precisely track fabric and prevent
distortion during the sewing process.
The system also allows importing of ASTM (DFX) files from popular pattern
design software and the ability to fine-tune the parameters using online
sewing CAD software before exporting to the LOWRY robot for production.
The LOWRY system is also compatible for installation with existing cutters,
fabric transfers and sewing machines and can run on a continuous basis,
reducing unproductive downtime.
  Products made using LOWRY - SewBot
 Robotics for Three Dimensional Sewing
Operations
In many approaches and research projects robots have been used to either
guide the textile through the sewing process or movement of a sewing head
mounted to a robot. Compared to the production of composite materials,
robots have not yet been established in garment production, for example, due
to high investment costs.

1. Integrated three-dimensional sewing system:

The integrated 3D-sewing system refers to a system in which the cut
components are provided tensioned in a room in a 3D manner, are sewn. The
system was developed for the sewing of a head cushion cover of a car seat
head cushion.
2. Three-dimensional sewing with robots for
preforms:

A particular advancement of the last decade is the one-sided sewing process,

in which the textile is held stationary and the sewing head is guided over the
textile. These sewing methods are primarily interesting for composite
applications, especially due to the possibility to sew complex component
geometries, for example, with 3D reinforcing ribs. In contrast to clothing, the
textiles used for composite must not be folded or pleated to avoid damage to
the reinforced fibres.

In case of large components, sewn with conventional sewing methods,

correspondingly wide sewing machines must be used and the suitable large
sewing material must be guided. Because the movement is carried out by the
sewing head, in the case of one-sided sewing techniques, very large
components can be sewn and a synchronously moved gripper or lower thread
system, underneath the work piece, can be dispensed.

For the guidance of the sewing heads, the use of robots has been established.
The four most important one-sided sewing methods used for composite today
are all guided by a robot or a sewing portal.
3. Three-dimensional sewing operations with
automated sewing units:

In addition to robotics further principles to flexibly guide textiles through the

sewing process are developed in research projects worldwide. Within tests the
construction is appraised by using body and arm cut components of men’s
jackets. The transportation and the feed movement are realized with the help
of three rubber coated roller pairs.

The two roller pairs in the front of the sewing machine can thereby be

adjusted transversely with respect to the sewing direction. A laser distance
sensor monitors the seam allowance for each layer. The rollers and linear units
are controlled by a programmable logic controller. The seam lines are
generated in the AutoCAD software of Autodesk Inc., San Rafael, United States
via a Lisp macro. The adjustment of the curvature is effected by oblique
warping of the respective position by means of the transverse feed units.

The prerequisite for the automated sewing system are the cut components
with large radii of curvature of the contour, which allow a certain degree of
elongation and oblique warping. These characteristics are not guaranteed in
the materials of the cuttings for car seat covers.
Real-time Sewing Cell with Two Lightweight
Industrial Robots:
During the robot-guided sewing process, unlike the integrated 3D-sewing, the
work piece is guided by an industrial robot rather than the sewing head. Within
the robot guided sewing process, a sewing cell consists of an industrial C-frame
sewing machine and two robot arms, each of which guides the upper or the
lower work piece. Finally, the material is gripped by the robots and fed to the
joint patch. At the same time, the sewn edges are monitored by sensors and
the robot arms are controlled in real-time via an analogue board.
Production Gains from Manufacturing With
Robotics
 The automated sewing robots reduce the need for sewing labourers.
 In the case of Tianyuan’s new factory, three to five people will work each
of the 21 robotic production lines.
 This a labour decrease of 50-70% compared to the 10 workers on a
conventional line. In addition to lowering costs, the robots will also
increase production.
 A human sewing line produces 669 t-shirts in eight hours, compared to
the robots at 1,142 t-shirts.
 That’s a 71% increase in production, resulting in a total output of 1.2
million t-shirts per year.
 Using robotics makes the cost of producing a t-shirt in the U.S.
comparable to one that is produced overseas.
 For example, in Bangladesh the labour cost to produce a denim shirt is
about $0.22. If made by U.S. workers, that labour cost jumps to $7.47,
but with a robotic production line, it’s just $0.33 per t-shirt.
 As Quartz puts it, “the robot, working under the guidance of a single
human handler, can make as many shirts per hour as about 17 humans.”
 So in this instance of John Henry versus the machine, it would seem that
the machine wins.

Sewbot complete automated

line for basic t-shirt
preparation.
 Garment manufacturing process without
Sewbot vs. Sewbot Garment Manufacturing
process
For example if for making a basic round crew neck we require following
operations-
1. Set parts & Shoulder attach
 No of operator
2. Neckband preparation required- 11
3. Neckband attach  Time required for
each operation will
4. Shoulder to shoulder tape attach
vary as per operator
5. Neckband t/s cycle time
 Directly affecting the
6. Sleeve attach
efficiency
7. Side seam attach
8. Sleeve hem
9. Bottom hem
10. Wash care label attach
11. Main label attach

In case of Sewbot Manufacturing process:

 1 robot doing all the process.
 Pick and dispose by robot and not by humans which differentiate it from
automated machines.
 More production.
 Standard time maintained for every operation.
 More output high efficiency
Advantages & Disadvantages of Garment
Manufacturing process without Sewbot
Advantages:
1. No extra cost for the initial setups.
2. Small space is required for each operator.
3. Instant solution for the technical problem.
4. Operator can handle all kind of fabrics.

Disadvantages
1. Absenteeism does cause many problems.
2. Even a minor product change cannot be accommodated Quality
problems easily accumulate.
3. Machine breakdown can be critical and troublesome.
4. Pre-production planning skill is essential.
5. The line is paced by the slowest operation.
 Advantages & Disadvantages of Sewbot
Garment Manufacturing Process
Advantages:
1. Increase in productivity.
2. Increased inventory turnover.
3. Consistent in quality.
4. Replacement of repetitive and monotonous work.
5. Reduction of variability among products and product batches.
6. Performing jobs beyond human capability.
7. Reduction of direct human labour costs and overheads.

Disadvantages:
1. High initial cost of installation.
2. Technical problems.
3. High cost of maintenance.
4. Limited scope.
5. Lack of flexibility.
6. Create Unemployment.
Sewbot Making Industries
SoftWear Automation
 Automated sewing machine from soft wear
automation is known as LOWRY.
 Part of the company’s initiative to automate the
textile industry in the same way that other
industries have used robotics for manufacturing
 Their sewbot family includes the Lowry, Budge,
And Asm sewbots
 Their sewbot work lines allow manufacturers to sew local,
geographically shortening the distance between manufacturing and
consumers.
 T.EVO: sewbots step into shoe manufacturing.

Sewbo Automation
 Sewbo is a start up by Jonathan Zornow wants to
automate the garment construction process as
well.
 Using a stiffener for rigidity, removed by hot
water at the end of the production
 Not available commercially

  About Shima Seiki – 3D Knitting Technology

 The Shima- Seiki a Japan based knitting
industry has developed a 3-D knitting
technology
 SHIMA SEIKI’s revolutionary
WHOLEGARMENT knitwear is produced
in one entire piece, three-dimensionally, directly on the knitting
machine. Consequently it requires no expensive, time- consuming post-
production labour.
 Adidas and Automated Sewbots

This is a major breakthrough in the automation of garment assembly by the

global partnership. Leading sportswear brand Adidas is planning to produce
800,000 T-shirts per day using fully automated Sewbot Work line’s supplied by
SoftWear Automation, of Atlanta, GA.
Tianyuan Garments Company, of Suzhou, China, the largest producer of
apparel for Adidas worldwide, has partnered with SoftWear Automation to
produce the T-shirts.
From fabric cutting and sewing to finished product, it takes roughly four
minutes,” said Tang Xinhong, chairman of Tianyuan Garments. “We will install
21 production lines. When fully operational, the system will make one T-shirt
every 22 seconds. We will produce 800,000 T-shirts a day for Adidas .

The Manufacturing Scenario Using SewBots

By using advanced machine vision, cutting-edge computing and robotic sewing,
the Sewbots will be able to handle soft fabrics and actually “make” T-shirts,
says SoftWear Automation CEO, Palaniswamy Rajan. Indeed, China-based
Tianyuan Garments Company, which owns the Arkansas plant, aims to produce
massive volumes of tees for Adidas with the Sewbots.
“From fabric cutting and sewing to finished product, it takes roughly four
minutes,” Tang Xinhong, chairman of Tianyuan Garments, recently told China
Daily. “We will install 21 production lines. When fully operational, the system
will make one T-shirt every 22 seconds.” Labour costs, Tang says, will be about
33 cents per shirt. “Around the world, even the cheapest labour market can’t
compete with us,” he says, noting the plant’s operations will ultimately
generate 400 new jobs in Arkansas.

Manufacturing in its Many Forms

It takes a cue from established robot counterparts. It works by using a water-
soluble thermoplastic to stiffen fabric to be as sturdy as cardboard, which can
then be manipulated by an off-the-shelf universal robot and fed into a sewing
machine. Once the seams are stitched, the stiffened garment is put into hot
water, where the plastic melts off and the shirt emerges in its soft, finished
state.
Sewing Automation at Different Companies
Today, clothes must still be hand-fed into a sewing machine. Also to consider is
the labour costs involved! There is no doubt about the fact that sewing
automation has ignited the world of automation! And other start-ups are
working on it.
Different companies use different methodologies for sewing
automation For instance
 Kniterate, was founded several years ago and is trying to knit together
ready-to-wear garments. They perform this by the 3D printing of fabric.
Here they establish that it requires no fabric sewing at all.
 Fabrican uses a “spray-on fabric,” where a chemical is applied directly to
the body to create a garment that moulds to any individual’s physical
form.
 SoftWare Automation uses computer-enabled cameras to track the
location of the fabric and determine stitching position. But
 Sewbo appears to be the only start-up using a stiffener to make fabric
adaptable to existing robots–a cheaper solution than building a machine
that uses cameras and algorithms to manipulate fabric, since
 Zornow estimates the cost of plastic needed to stiffen one shirt is less
than 10 cents.
 Result of Sewbot
 
 Future of Robotics in Apparel
Manufacturing and Its Impact
 The biggest concern about the rise of robots, automation and artificial
intelligence is the job loss.
 According to the statistics on the apparel industry revolution by sewing
robots, the entire garment industry employs 60 to 75 million people
worldwide.
 In a report by the International Labour Organization (ILO says that
automated assembly lines will most likely cost the jobs of 90 per cent of
garment workers.
 As we enter this 4th industrial revolution of automation through
robotics, it’s expected that “artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning
(ML) and cognitive computing will directly impact approximately 47% of
jobs.”
 However, the current frontier for robotic textile manufacturing is limited
in scope to relatively simple pieces made in high quantities.
 “We’d never do a bridal dress,” says SoftWear Automation CEO,
Palaniswamy Rajan.
 Conclusion
 For the past 30 years, technology has rapidly evolved in every area save
sewing.
 Advanced computer-assisted design
software has made the design process
easier.
 Computer controlled cutting has reduced
bottlenecks in the cutting room.
 Yet, the only real solution around sewing
has been to chase cheap labour around the
globe.
 Sew Bot is disrupting the $100 billion sewn
products industry by creating autonomous
sewn machines for Home Goods, Footwear
& Apparel.
 It will be a very long time, if ever, before
things are 100% automated.
 But Sew Bots are able to leverage machines
to achieve incredible productivity to the point where the labor cost to
manufacture a yard of fabric is minimized.
 Understandably, the rise of automated sewing has raised concerns that
it could displace countless low-wage garment workers in the coming
decade.
 References
 https://sastrarobotics.com/ultrasonic-sewing-robots-transform-clothing-
industry/
 https://clothingindustry.blogspot.com/2018/08/application-robotics-
apparel-production.html
 https://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/7183/use-of-robots-
automation-in-the-garment-industry
 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780081012116000
01X • http://www.deviceplus.com/connect/sewbot-in-the-clothing-
manufacturing-industry/
 http://www.catchnews.com/business-economy-news/robots-vs-people-
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