Autonomous Sewing Robotics National Key R&D Program Officially Launched

On March 19, the National Key R&D Program's "Intelligent Robotics" special project—"Development and Application Verification of Autonomous Sewing Robotics Systems"—was officially launched at Jack Technology Co., Ltd. in Taizhou.

Led by Jack Technology as the main undertaking unit, the project involves five top domestic universities, including Zhejiang University, Southeast University, Jiangnan University, South China University of Technology, and Anhui University of Engineering, along with two leading robotics companies, Rokae Technology and Beijing Soft Robot Technology. The project aims to overcome core technological challenges in intelligent sewing, injecting new momentum into the intelligent upgrade of China's textile and garment manufacturing industry. Centered on "robotics + artificial intelligence," the project focuses on developing sewing robotics systems with autonomous decision-making and execution capabilities. By leveraging multimodal perception technology, intelligent path-planning algorithms, and high-precision flexible control technology, the system will enable robotic fabric gripping, flattening, stacking, and real-time collaborative sewing.

The project is scheduled to run for three years and comprises five sub-topics: real-time fabric shape detection, precise gripping of fabric pieces, robotic sewing collaboration, real-time intelligent evaluation of sewing quality, and system integration and application demonstration. The goal is to develop a complete robotic sewing system capable of handling five different sewing scenarios, including pocket attachment and pocket opening, with over 50 sets deployed for industrial applications. This will enable fully automated operations from fabric recognition and automatic cutting to sewing.

"The research of this project will not only promote the application of advanced humanoid robots and other high-tech equipment in the field of intelligent sewing but also provide valuable practical experience for the automation and intelligent transformation of China’s traditional labor-intensive manufacturing industries such as apparel," said Professor Li Shihua, project leader and Dean of the School of Automation at Southeast University. He expressed strong confidence in the project's success and its impact on the industry, stating, "The implementation of this project will play a crucial role in empowering China’s sewing machine industry and driving the overall optimization and upgrading of the sector."