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TechCrunch: SoftWear Raises $4.5M to Build Sewbots

Founded by a set of Georgia Tech science professors, the company was a “response to the effects of offshoring textile and apparel manufacturing had on the US economy,” said CEO Palaniswamy “Raj” Rajan. They’ve received a $2 million grant from the Walmart Foundation and a $3 million Series A from CTW Venture Partners. This latest round is a Series A1.

The company’s Sewbots has produced 2 million home goods since 2015. The robots are designed to hold onto and sew cloth and other materials by “mapping” the surface as it sews. Sewing, in general, has been a thorny problem for decades and the Sewbots are some of the first robots to do it without resorting to heavily snatched materials.

“Most automation in textiles and apparel is operation specific — focused on automating a particular process— and still require an operator to feed and manage the machine,” said Rajan. “Using our patented computer vision technology, SoftWear’s fully automated Sewbots are able to replace the operator without making any modifications to the material.”

Read the full article in its original format at TechCrunch.com.