Compact Electro-adhesion Gripper for Fabric Handling

Fabric handling is a common task in garment manufacturing, accounting for around 80% of both total production time and cost. Current fabric manipulation practice makes use of grippers. Among the various gripping methods available, electro-adhesion is one of the most effective.

Flat plate type is a common model of electro-adhesion grippers but it has a number of limitations. For effective gripping, the flat plate surface area needs to be larger than that of the fabric and the fabric needs to be spread flat.

Fabric Manipulation by Electro-adhesion

To address these issues, this project has developed a pair of robust electro-adhesion grippers. The gripper is designed in a roller form with an array of conductive electrodes with alternate positive and negative charges installed on the insulated surface. When the roller is applied to the edge of the fabric, relative charges are induced on the adjacent electrodes and an electric field is generated on the fabric surface; thus, electro-adhesion is formed and the fabric is adhered to the roller. The level of automation is increased simply by installing the two rollers on robotic arms to execute the fabric transportation task.

Other advantages of the robust electro-adhesion grippers include being able to pick up fabric piece by piece from a fabric stack and handle fabrics larger than one of its own dimensions. Fabric needs not to be spread flat in advance as the roller simply presses the fabric edge to pick it up, and during the delivery, the fabric is kept flat.

Project video

The robust electro-adhesion grippers can handle fabric piece by piece from a fabric stack

This technology garners a Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury in the 48th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva

 

An Innovative and Award-winning Design to Facilitate Automation

Studies show that textiles industry has a lower automation level than other industrial sectors. This robust electro-adhesion grippers can drive the transformation of the textile industry towards Industry 4.0. With its novel design, it enhances efficiency and flexibility of fabric handling. It won a Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury in the 48th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva in 2023 for its innovative machinery design that helps foster the development of the textiles industry.