The University of California, Berkeley, has developed software that allows the $400,000 dollar PR2 robot, from Willow Garage, to fold clothing. The early version, video above, could stare at a towel trying to figure out what it is, and eventually fold the rectangle. Overall, a slow process, was limited. However, the team has refined the system to now identify clothing and fold it appropriately. Like the towel, it holds up the garment, and identifies its length via the dual camera in its head. After switching hands, the PR2 uses principle component analysis (PCA) to give the piece a "digital signature" based on the size and other properties like sleeves, etc. From there it compares the results to a database of known clothing items, deduces what it has, and folds it according to a predetermined procedure. It will correct the folding process if it is messy. The team states that the PCA recognition of clothes was in the 90 percentiles.
The PR2 is a robotics platform that uses the open source Robot Operating System (ROS). Other schools have programmed the bot to do many things, like read, for example. Not the cheapest robot platform, but one of the most impressive.
Eavesdropper
Pictures and video via University of California, Berkeley
