Robotic Assembly of Garments

Auralis, serving as the subject matter expert (SME) from Bluewater Defense, played a key role in the Robotic Assembly of Garments project, a groundbreaking initiative funded by the ARM Institute to advance robotic garment manufacturing and support reshoring efforts. Hosted at Bluewater Defense's production facility in Puerto Rico, the project tackled a major challenge in apparel automation: the difficulty robots face in handling flexible textiles. By laminating fabric with a water-soluble thermoplastic polymer, the team overcame this barrier, enabling robots to handle and assemble fabric pieces for garment construction. Auralis provided critical expertise in aligning the robotic system’s performance with industry standards and Bluewater Defense's quality requirements. The successful demonstration included robotic sewing of pocket flaps for military uniform pants, marking a significant step toward automating garment production in the U.S. This modular robotic system is now being further developed for more complex applications, including medical gowns and face masks, with Siemens, Sewbo, and UC Berkeley among the key collaborators.