Dressing a humanoid robot turns out to be designing a Soft Goods subsystem
yongqianme · x · 2026-09-28
Sharing hands-on experience dressing a newly designed humanoid robot: what sounds like simple tailoring quickly becomes a systems problem. Fabric must simultaneously serve the mechanical structure, joint articulation, heat dissipation, sensors, safety and repair access — ordinary clothes can snag shoulder joints, jam into hips during deep squats, block cameras and vents, and migrate sideways after dozens of movement cycles.
The author's conclusion: this isn't "clothing a robot" but designing a new robot subsystem — Soft Goods — a piece that humanoid robots must fill in when moving from prototype to real product.
More from Embodied
- Engineer who 3D-printed carbon fiber for Porsche is now building a flying car — IsaiahBallah · 2026-09-28
- Microbots Built on 20-Year-Old 55nm Process Float Free After Silicon Etch — ctjlewis · 2026-09-28
- Waymo First Ride in Austin: Daily Tesla FSD User Says the Robotaxi Experience Was Mind-Blowing — lydiahallie · 2026-09-28
- Engram is an offline sampler that turns AI hallucinations into music — The Verge AI · 2026-09-28
- Mark Cuban: humanoid robots will fail in 5-10 years, purpose-built forms will win — rohanpaul_ai · 2026-09-28
- Cornell's Proxy Policy Steering Adapts Frozen Robot Policies Without Touching Weights — philfung · 2026-09-28