Wearable Art: Could this robot startup be the future of fashion?

The future is certainly terrifying. From climate change to our political climate, there is a lot of uncertainty. But one thing is for certain —  robots will take over the world’s workforce —  especially in the world of footwear.

Talk about a walk-up call! 

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And possibly leading the robotic revolution is the company Grabit, Inc., a materials handling solutions company.

The California-based (Nike-backed) robotics startup employs ‘electroadhesion’ in order to automate the handling of any material. To be exact, the company, applies  ‘electroadhesion’ via ‘flat pads of electrodes that, when charged correctly, create an electric field that adheres to nearly any surface,’ Bloomberg reports.

Grabit’s shoemaking robot at the company’s headquarters in Sunnyvale

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Photo Credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Unlike using human hands or pliable materials, electroadhesion can offer manufacturers the ability to work around such pesky issues like gripping materials by channeling the same sort of static cling that also makes a balloon stick to your head.

Sounds simply genius? That’s because it is! ‘Electroadhesion has the finesse to handle something as fragile as an egg, as flimsy as soft fabric and as unwieldy as a 50-lb box,’ the company says on their website. They also assert that their line of equipment provides a cheaper, faster solutions that uses less power.

 

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And the static electricity that Grabit can yield has the ability to ‘make machines work at 20 times the pace of humans.’  How can we compete with that?!