Single sheet separation method from piled fabrics by roller hand mechanism and separation success judgement method

Automation is currently delayed in garment factory. In order to automate the work in a garment factory, a method of single sheet separation from piled fabric is required. In this study, we developed a method of single sheet separation from piled fabrics by a roller hand mechanism with a rotating mechanism added to the tip of a robot hand. We designed a rigid body dynamics model for separating a sheet of fabric by this mechanism, and conducted experiments on the separation of a sheet of fabric. As a result, we succeeded in separating only single sheet of fabrics with a high probability. It is necessary to eliminate failures for practical use. However, it is difficult to eliminate failure completely due to the characteristics of fabrics. First, in order to improve the reliability of the separation process, we devised a method to determine the success of separation by the thickness of fabrics, created a mechanism and actually verified. We have succeeded in improving the reliability of single sheet separation process from piled fabrics. However, there was a failure pattern that cannot be addressed by this method. Therefore, we devised a method to determine the success of separation by the weight of fabrics, created a mechanism and actually verified. As a result, the reliability was further improved.