According to project leader Adam Whiton, “Sartorial Robotics is a method of merging fashion theory and robotics through the design and development of robotic systems. These systems facilitate interaction and play as well as mimic the materiality, aesthetics, and construction techniques of textiles, apparel and fashion. This will enhance the social aspects of human-robotic interaction and assist in how we situate robotics in our lives and cultures.”
While Whiton’s summary of Sartorial Robotics speaks to the larger context of his project, it’s his self-zipping Zipperbot that’s got me in stitches.
Whiton doesn’t go into the details of how Zipperbot was built, but it appears to be a pretty simple machine. Comprising a zipper head, a stepper motor and two wires, the Zipperbot easily glides up a zipper’s chain, binding or breaking the closure along the way. In its current iteration Whiton’s bot is still tethered, likely to an Arduino or a similar microcontroller that gives it power and instructions. If that tether could be severed, however, robotic-zippers might just have a future.
With “techno-fashion” starting to take off the Zipper-bot might be a prime candidate for runways in Paris and New York in the coming years. It might also help answer Whiton’s questions about human-machine interactions. As for me, the Zipperbot raises many important questions. Chief among them is, “If a zipper can zip itself, then why do I still have to tie my own shoes?”
Source: MIT Sartorial Robots