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- Let me start by saying clothing waste is terrible.
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In Australia, we send six tons of clothing
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to landfills every 10 minutes.
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When we consider this problem globally,
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the world sends an incomprehensible
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92 million tons of textile waste to landfills each year.
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And this can be dangerous.
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As fabric decomposes,
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greenhouse gases such as methane are generated.
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Additionally, toxic chemicals and dyes
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leach into the groundwater and our soil.
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But waste is not the only problem.
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It takes between 10,000 and 20,000 litres of fresh water
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to produce a single kilogram of cotton,
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and that's the amount of water
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from a backyard swimming pool
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to create a T-shirt and a pair of jeans.
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One possible solution to alleviate these issues
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is textile recycling.
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Clothing waste is highly recyclable,
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and researchers across the globe
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have created chemical-based technologies
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that can recycle our textile waste,
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creating new fibres or even construction supplies.
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This then reduces both emissions and waste.
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But textile recycling is complicated.
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Rather than using these technologies,
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we send our clothing to landfills or ship it overseas.
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My research started by asking, why is this the case?
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As it turns out, the answer is labour costs.
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We lack affordable labour to sort and prepare the clothing
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for these chemical recycling processes.
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Which is frustrating
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considering the benefits of textile recycling.
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This is where my research comes into the discussion.
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I propose using robotic labour
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to perform repetitive and tedious tasks
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involved in fabric waste preparation,
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allowing recyclers to process
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larger volumes of discarded clothing.
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Currently, robots are at a precipice
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to make our lives better in various ways,
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but they are not particularly good
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at grasping clothing, which remains quite complex.
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We don't even think about it as we do our laundry,
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but the next time you pick up your garments,
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I encourage you to consider how you grasp clothing.
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Do you grab it with a few fingers,
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a fist, or even hang it over your arm?
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Manipulating cloth from a visual and physical perspective
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remains challenging for robotic agents.
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My research focuses on the development
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and learning aspects of a robot manipulator
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that remains a simple mechanical system,
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but captures the dexterous skills we as humans possess,
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enabling robots to easily manipulate and sort textile waste.
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First, I started by studying
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the dexterous capabilities of the human hand.
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I collected a range of manipulation skills
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robots require to simply pick and sort fabric.
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To verify that the required skills would be sufficient,
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an observation exercise was also conducted
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studying how humans handle clothing.
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Then, using these anthropomorphic studies,
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I designed and validated a robot hand.
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The final step currently underway
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consists of training the hand.
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This is achieved by providing specific reward signals
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that guide machine learning algorithms
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to control the hand robustly and intelligently.
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My research provides the answer to this labour barrier
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that gives robots the ability to grasp clothing quickly,
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automatically sort waste,
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and make recycling a profitable endeavour.
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It is my greatest hope to see this technology
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giving textile recyclers a 'hand'
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in building a better future for us and our planet.
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(soft music plays)