Project - The Automated Laundry

Laundry II – under the Handyman Platform

The Automated Laundry project is a part of the Handyman Platform project.
The Automated Laundry project part is completed.

Project start August 2008. Expected completion January 2009.

Industrial laundries have so far had great difficulties when it comes to automation of handling processes. The reasons are primarily that the selection of textiles is very large, and that the laundry often is mixed together – perhaps even entangled. Automation has therefore been confined mainly to areas such as transport between washing and drying and identification of the items.

A new sub-product under the high-tech Handyman Platform is being introduced to attempt to solve a general problem in connection with automated handling of laundry, namely separation and handling of single pieces of textile

The robot is based in a test cell in the Robot Laboratory at University of Southern Denmark, and the work has been organised in three phases;

1.    The robot collects towels from a basket.

2.    The robot learns to turn the towels the right way, so they can be put in a folding machine.

3.    The sensor solutions are integrated with the robot system.

In addition, the robot should be able to work safely next to, and integrated with, people, without the need for a protective fence.  

Project Objectives

• For the robot to be able to collect towels from a basket.
• For the robot to be able to locate the corners of the towel.
• For the robot to learn to turn the towel the right way relative to logo.

Participants

• The Danish Technological Institute
• Unisensor
• TriVision
• University of Southern Denmark
• RoboCluster
• Universal Robots