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Uniqlo robots pick up packaged T-shirts and put them in a box
- neonate 7y agohttp://archive.md/7qbSb http://archive.md/7qbSb https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/24/uniqlo-heads-towards-full-warehouse-automation-groundbreaking/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/24/uniqlo-heads-tow...
- gjs278 7y agotheir shirt quality has gone downhill. they cut too many costs.
- scribu 7y agoThe video linked from the article [1] only shows a robot picking up an already packaged t-shirt. They don't show what I assume is the more challenging part, which is to actually fold a t-shirt. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11&v=h1_aZhmL5vw&feature=emb_logo https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11&v=h1_aZhmL5vw...
- rb808 7y agoObligatory link to folding a shirt perfectly in 2 seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz6rjbw0ZA0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz6rjbw0ZA0
- cafard 7y agoThanks, I'll have to try that.
- edgarvaldes 7y agoWomen clothing has irregular shapes, I hate folding it.
- Tade0 7y agoNot to mention at times weird textures. I use hangers for most of my SO's clothes, because women's clothing is just to inconsistent to be handled otherwise.
- AareyBaba 7y agoThe robots are standard pick and place robots using suction to pick packaged t-shirts and put them in a box. If you were expecting to see a robot picking up a t-shirt, folding it and putting it in a package you will be disappointed.
- Reason077 7y agoI like Uniqlo, but one thing that has annoyed me about them is the environmentally unsound practice of packaging each individual item (T-Shirts, etc) in a thick plastic wrapper. They don’t do this for all their lines, but it would be good if they could abandon such superfluous packaging altogether or at least switch to using sustainable, biodegradable materials.
- ivanhoe 7y agoFood and especially snacks packaging is more of a problem, t-shirt plastic wrap is in most countries very likely to end-up properly recycled.
- reaperducer 7y agoIt's very Japanese. You wouldn't believe the amount of plastic packaging even simple things are treated to in Japan. Box of 24 widgets? Expect each to be individually wrapped, the box to be wrapped, and then a plastic bag.
- skyyler 7y agoNot to mention all of the papers and cards and posters that come with the widgets. I got a recipe book with a Japanese toaster, in addition to like 9 other pieces of paper or cardstock, in addition to the regulatory pamphlet. I think most places in Japan have pretty extreme recycling policies. I wonder what came first, the excess of trash or the ability to deal with it?
- fiblye 7y agoOh, make no mistake, Japan’s plastic recycling is just like the rest of the world: it was dumped in poorer Asian countries. Most cities burn it now. PET plastic is allegedly recycled, but that’s just a small portion of all plastic.
- alkonaut 7y agoSo someone making $1 per day put the t-shirt in the bag in Bangladesh, but Uniqlo has a robot that can move those packaged shirts?
- sorokod 7y agoMore like 50 cents a day.
- bruceb 7y ago$3 a day.
- taneq 7y agoAnd that's why it'll be a long while before we have fully autonomous clothing handling robots.
- ruler88 7y agowell, these robots will be operating in highly competitive markets offering 2-3 day shipping so Bangladeshi packers will not be in those labor markets. With raising minimal wage in the US. We are likely looking at $10/hr in various markets. These robots run 24/7 so that is 1024365 = $87k saved per year. Even with depreciation counted in, it sounds pretty economical to me.
- coldcode 7y agoUnless you need a job of course. What is economical to a single manufacturer may not be for a society.
- cwperkins 7y agoMore people need to be aware that Uniqlo sources some of its cotton from Xinjiang where the Uyghur were/are detained.
- GordonS 7y agoCould you explain why you feel that is relevant?
- notthatdud 7y agoIrrelevant to a robot, relevant to the company that uses the robot. I think it’s important to keep in mind where products come from, especially if the source is from modern day, holocaust-esque, concentration camps.
- GordonS 7y agoI guess I misunderstoof the GP then - which is why I asked why it was relevant (and got downvoted for it...). I'm aware of the terrible things happening in Xinjiang, but now I realise the implication is (I think) that Uyghurs are being forced to produce things.
- csomar 7y agoXinjiang or not it's China and most of the world are doing business with them today. Not that I'm happy with it but blacklisting products from China is not feasible today.
- api 7y agoPSA: I would pay upwards of $5000 for a robot that can reliably fold and put away laundry. I mean in a real bedroom, not some contrived setting, and real clothes that are not pre-sorted.
- gambiting 7y agoI can't fathom having enough disposable income to spend $5000 on such a thing. Good for you I guess.
- api 7y agoI would consider buying a folding robot on awful credit terms. Seriously though. Laundry folding is the last of the endlessly tedious household chores to not fall to automation.
- TaylorAlexander 7y agoMy friends dad in college was a radiologist and made $750k/yr. He would visit and buy a $20k watch like it was nothing. I don’t like the existence of that kind of wealth while people are dying from lack of insulin.
- rolltiide 7y agoCheaper than a live in housekeeper, I would consider it but hope that single purpose machine was way cheaper
- swalsh 7y agoI have kids, folding laundry is at least an active 15 minutes every day. I'd pay way more than 5000 to get that time back. If you skip a day it piles up, and soon you have hours worth of folding waiting for you.
- ascorbic 7y agoYikes. My kids' clothes get chucked into boxes and that takes enough time as it is. I can't imagine a situation where I'd fold them. Wedding clothes, maybe. It's not as if I'd ever iron their clothes.
- Animats 7y agoThe industrial laundry industry is almost there on this. Here's Chicago Dryer's line.[1] They can take a huge clump of compressed sheets from a dryer and separate them out singly on a conveyor. But humans still grab them by an edge and start them into a slot for the ironing, folding and stacking process. One last step to automate... [1] https://www.chidry.com/products/cascade-automatic-linen-separating-system https://www.chidry.com/products/cascade-automatic-linen-sepa...
- tholman 7y agoI can’t read the article at all, it’s a paid publication. Are people who are voting for this all subscribers?
- _-___________-_ 7y agoI believe it's just a signup-wall, not a pay-wall, so it's quite possible all the upvoters have an account, but I'd still prefer that the link was to something that didn't have any kind of wall.
- heliophobicdude 7y agoMost likely a coincidence but their founder resigned from Softbank's board recently. Softbank has a business in robotics. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/27/uniqlo-founder-yanai-resigns-as-softbank-board-member-after-18-years.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/27/uniqlo-founder-yanai-resigns...
- syntaxing 7y agoI found their new cashier system even more impressive. The cashier literally has to put everything on top of this plate and everything gets scanned at once. I hear the Uniqlo in Japan has this self checkout system that has this plus automatic bagging.
- noisy_boy 7y agoDecathlon[0] also has a similar self checkout system where you basically dump all the items in a box with scanning built in and everything gets scanned immediately. Very efficient. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decathlon_Group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decathlon_Group
- himlion 7y agoI agree it's a nifty system. I think every item is tagged with an RFID chip. Does anyone know he details?
- technobabble 7y agoAll clothes I’ve bought from Uniqlo have the rfid logo on the tag.
- tfolbrecht 7y agoI used it today, visiting Spain from the US, and it absolutely blew my mind. All I did was drop my products in the basket, and pay with my phones NFC.