Nike replace people in manufacturing robots

Now branded sneakers from the famous brand sewing machines.

Nike sets up factories in Mexico and China, robots that use static electricity to sewing sneakers, writes Quartz.

Although robots are already an integral part of the process of production of cars, electronics and semiconductors, they are rarely used in light industry, in particular, in the production of clothing and shoes.

One of the reasons the robots are badly treated soft materials. The top layer of Nike shoes consists of 40 different materials, which must be neatly stacked on top of each other and connected. In electronics factories, the robots use a vacuum, magnets and mechanical pinchers to manipulate the parts. All of them were poorly managed with skin, fabric and mesh.

To solve this problem, Nike hired a company Grabit, which several years ago bought a minority stake. Grabit uses electroadhesion — capture the material using static electricity. Moreover, any material. The company claims that the technology is able to maneuver like an egg or a soft cloth and a box weighing 20 kg.

Nike sets about a dozen such robots in factories in Mexico and China. They can stack on top of each other dozens of materials in just seconds 50-75, whereas a person is required to perform the same task more than 10 minutes. “The robot can pick up a few pieces of material at a time and place them in the right place, — says CEO of Grabit Greg Miller. — The same person must collect and fold each piece separately.”

Miller says that in addition to Nike technology is interested in companies that produce the shirts, in particular, Esquel Group — the main supplier of such brands as Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger. Robots Grabit can be useful here as the collars and cuffs and shirts, composed of a plurality of layers.

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