Automated garment handling and the properties of materials

Many devices have been invented for automated fabric handling, targeted at industrial automation tasks. However such devices are rarely reliable enough for commercial use and it is only recently that scientific studies have been initiated to understand why this is so, investigating the individual handling processes and their relationships to the various fabric properties under the conditions encountered during handling. This work has  shown, for example, that changes in humidity can have significant effects on fabric properties under these conditions which then affect the behaviour of the handling devices, causing unreliable picking and placing.

The aim of this work was to develop a model for pinch gripping of fabric panels. In order to achieve this experimental measurements were carried out on large foam blocks [1, 4, 6] and stacks of fabric panels [2, 3, 5] to determine displacement data which can be used to validate any models developed. Analytic and finite element models have been developed to describe the indentation of fabric panels with single and double indenters [1-7]. To achieve valid numerical simulations appropriate constitutive models for foam and fabric arrays have been developed. Both models and experiment agree within experimental error.

To support this work a well equipped robotics laboratory with temperature and humidity control was used. Within this we have a robot cell and numerous handling devices. Equipment includes tensile, compressive, bending and friction testers all with computer data logging. The equipment is particularly sensitive since many processes apply small or zero normal forces to the material and the surface hair effects become very important. In addition a range of materials characterisation methods are available to support the project including high resolution scanning electron microscopy, optical profilometry and atomic force microscopy.

[1] Simulation of deformation of flexible material pressed by differently shaped grippers, Hua Lin, Steve J. Bull and Paul M. Taylor, Proc. 4^th Int. Conf. on Innovation and Modelling of Clothing Engineering Processes, Maribor, Slovenia, 9-11 October 2003. 

[2] A mathematical model of contact deformation for a pinch gripper in automated garment assembly, Hua Lin, Paul M. Taylor and Steve J. Bull, Proc. 4^th Int. Conf. on Innovation and Modelling of Clothing Engineering Processes, Maribor, Slovenia, 9-11 October 2003.

[3] Modelling the indentation of fabric by differently shaped pinch grippers, H. Lin, P. M. Taylor and S. J. Bull, Int. J. Clothing Sci. Technol., 16 (2004) 374-393.

[4] A mathematical model for grasping analysis of flexible materials, H. Lin, S. J. Bull, and P. M. Taylor, Modelling and Simulation in Materials Science and Engineering, 13 (2005) 185-201.

[5] An experimental study of the factors affecting the indentation of fabric under a pinch gripper, H. Lin, P. M. Taylor and S. J. Bull, Int. J. Clothing Sci. Technol., 17 (2005) 320-334.

[6] Simulation of the deformation and stress distribution within a flexible material pressed by a pinch gripper, H. Lin, S. J. Bull and P. M. Taylor, Journal of Material Processing Technology, 169 (2005) 357-363.

[7] A mathematical model of contact deformation for a pinch gripper in automated material handling, Hua Lin, Paul M. Taylor and Steve J. Bull, J. Mathematical and Computer Modelling, in press (2007).

This page was last modified on 18th January 2007.

S.J.Bull@ncl.ac.uk

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