Can robots fix fashion?

Manchester Metropolitan University has a new robots lab - for fashion. Nicole Kobie unveils how the Robotics Living Lab is working to fix clothing production

- Nicole Kobie

The Robotics Living Lab at Manchester Metropolitan University is trying to solve long-running robotics challenges. Nothing too special in that statement, but rather than sit in the computing or engineering department, this robot factory is part of the Manchester Fashion Institute.

Why? Robotics are central to manufacturing in most industries, but clothing production has challenges not seen in car factories or chip fabs - after all, fabric is soft, making it difficult to manipulate by machine hands. If there was some way to solve this then we could reduce the fashion industry's reliance on so-called sweat shops and allow it to finally catch up with the rest of the world.

As it stands, fashion has a monstrous impact on people and the environment. Offshoring to regions where people are paid less for their work raises ethical quandaries, exacerbated by poor treatment of workers, exemplified by the worst but by no means only example of the fire at Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh that killed 1,134 people.

There's also the environmental impact of fashion, with the rise of plastic-filled fabrics that are difficult, if not impossible, to recycle. This leads to clothing being dumped in developing countries.

Can robots help solve such challenges? Could our metallic friends help to fix fashion?

What's here, and what we're waiting on

Some technology is on the horizon or here already. CNC-style laser cutting machines have been slicing patterns out of fabric for decades, and have recently added robotic assistance; existing machines knit at a pace unachievable by even the best wool warrior, for instance. Robots also help with tasks such as packaging, testing fabrics and manipulating even the most delicate materials.