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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency-supported experiment seeks to help the garment manufacturing industry reduce its reliance on assembly line workers.
The funding would go into development of a "numerically controlled sewing machine" that counts threads in fabric to automatically shift garments under construction as stitches are executed by a computer program, a contract notice states. The goal is to create an industrial process of making clothes without an actual machine operator.
Softwear Automation is the brainchild of Steve Dickerson, a robotics and engineering researcher.
According to the contract document, "Complete production facilities that produce garments with zero direct labor is the ultimate goal."