Intelligent and Precise Textile Drop-Off: A New Strategy for Integrating Soft Fingers and Machine Vision Technology

This study presents a novel drop-off strategy for automated fabric handling in intelligent apparel manufacturing, addressing the critical challenge of drift-free placement of lightweight, flexible textiles. A pneumatically driven retractable plate is introduced as an auxiliary device, along with machine vision technology, to eliminate drop-off deviations inherent in traditional soft grippers. By synchronizing the retraction motion of the plate with soft gripper release, the fabric is transferred onto the target surface without free-fall drift, achieving sub-0.5 mm alignment accuracy across 15 fabric types. Machine vision-based inspection validates drop-off quality in real time. This work offers a low-cost, drift-free drop-off solution for pre-sewing automation.