I guess everyone more or less sees China as the world’s factory – hardly anything these days do not have the label, “Made in China” imprinted somewhere. Clothes, especially, has been a huge money spinner for factories in China, and if one were to take a step up the technological ladder, then your iPad and iPhone is most probably part of the China brigade as well. The Pentagon wants to butt in and find a way to bring back manufacturing home where clothes are concerned, granting $1.2 million in funds to a Georgia Tech spinoff company in order to churn out computer-controlled robot sewing machines that could eventually make manufacturing clothes in the US itself cheaper than in China.
This robot will need to be able to precisely move fabric under the needle “stitch by stitch”, tracking passing threads with utmost precision – something that human hands and eyesight have long been at the helm. If proven successful, this might eventually lead to automated US factories which can “produce garments with zero direct labor”, according to DARPA. Does this mean the US will become a manufacturing powerhouse like it was previously in due time? Only time will tell.