Static electricity could help robots finally conquer the fashion industry, said Marc Bain at Quartz. While robots can deal fairly easily with the mostly uniform and rigid materials that go into cellphones and automobiles, they have trouble handling the wide variety of soft materials needed to make footwear and clothing. "A vacuum may pick up pieces of leather, for instance, but it can't deal with mesh." As a result, the apparel industry has been slower to automate.
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