Apparel, wire and woodworking industries

The reasons for necessity of automation in industrial production are well known. Approximately 80 % of the total production time of nearly every production process is used for material handling, so it seems reasonable to use automated systems, e. g., industrial robots, for the handling tasks. The handling of workpieces depends mainly on the behavior of the material. Generally materials are charcterized as one of two different kinds: limp and rigid. The requirements of robot systems are completely different for these two kinds of materials. To explain the handling of limp materials we look at the apparel industry and the wire industry. To explain the handling of rigid but soft materials we look at the woodworking industry.