It's safe to say, despite my modest achievements, I'm not the best seamstress in the world. The tailors on Saville Row, the masters of cloth like Vera Wang and Louis Vitton have one over on me there. But one thing's for sure, my old eyes and wrinkled hands are not half bad at lining up fabrics accurately, can spot a slight pucker here or a missed stitch there, and can hem a frock capably in no time. But it seems (seams?) that soon I will have even more competition, this time in the shape of a one-armed blind robot tailor! Oh my battered pride!
The Leapfrog Project is trying to build an automated sewing 'robot' that will be able to create made-to-measure clothes at a fraction of the cost of conventional bespoke tailors. They clearly think there's money in it, as they've invested 23 million Euros in the project and even companies like Hugo Boss are involved. You can watch the robot in action here:
Robot Tailor created by the Leapfrog project
But there is hope... the robot tailor's achievements are so far fairly modest. It can align and join two pieces of fabric with a seam, but can't yet insert sleeves or attach a cuff or collar, let alone add on a jaunty pocket... And I very much doubt that even when it's finished and operational, it can compete with the handmade love, care and customer service we are lucky to enjoy here in little old New Zealand from our wonderful crafting community... so maybe my wee MooAndFlo empire is safe for a wee while yet.
