The story behind the world’s first robot zipper
The story behind the world’s first robot zipper
A robotics zipper that can zip itself up is doubtlessly cool, but it’s also only the beginning.
Presented earlier this month as part of an aptly-named Sartorial Robotics Thesis, Zipperbot sits along a continuum of human/robotic interaction. Its creator, Adam Whiton, told me via email, “Fashion is a form of play with our identities and it will be important for robots/machines to have an understanding of that.”
Whiton, who just received his Ph.D from MIT’s Personal Robots group, is so convinced in the future of sartorial robotics that he founded a company (Betazip LLC) dedicated to the area. Its first product is, naturally, Zipperbot.
The robot, by the way, does far more than just zip up your jacket. It uses optical sensors to properly mesh the zipper teeth and motion sensors to zip and unzip at the right time. In one test, Whiton put Zipperbot in a form-fitting hobble skirt. When the hobble skirt-wearer began to walk, Zipperbot detected the motion and slightly unzipped to make it easier for the hobble skirt-wearer to move.
Social robots are fashion bots
Originally working as a researcher focused on robot skin, Whiton soon switched to clothing and intelligent fabrics for wearables. Eventually, he turned to fashion.
“As robots become more and more sophisticated and work more closely with people, robots will need to understand social signaling which of course includes understanding fashion and sartorial cues,” says Whiton.
Along with the Zipperbot, Whiton also built a computer vision system that analyzes a person’s preferred color palettes based on the clothes they’re wearing. It can then suggest new patterns and colors based on that palette analysis.
For Whiton, fashion is more than just about looking good, it may be the key to harmonious robot-human interaction. “[Robots] should understand simple differences like formal business attire versus casual in order to give context to an interaction or something more complex like the act of loosening a tie, which might indicate relaxation.”
Zipperbot in real life
IMAGE: ADAM WHITON
It’ll be a while before a robot tells you that “you look marvelous in that suit.” In the meantime, Whiton thinks Zipperbot could start a trend in “assistive clothing” and help people with disabilities dress themselves and be useful in situations where touching any part of clothing (for example, chemical and biohazard suits) could be detrimental to one’s health.
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