2022年12月16日 VOA慢速英語：公司開發(fā)機器人做衣服

 

Large clothing and technology companies, including Siemens AG and Levi Strauss & Co., are developing robots to make clothes. The process of using robots or computers for human work, known as automation, has raised concerns about jobs for many people around the world.
包括西門子股份公司和李維斯公司在內(nèi)的大型服裝和技術(shù)公司正在開發(fā)機器人來制作衣服。使用機器人或計算機從事人類工作的過程，即所謂的自動化，引起了世界各地許多人對工作的擔憂。
 
Eugen Solowjow heads an automated clothes manufacturing project at a Siemens lab in San Francisco.
Eugen Solowjow 在舊金山的西門子實驗室負責一個自動化服裝制造項目.
 
"Clothing is the last trillion-dollar industry that hasn't been automated," he said.
“服裝是最后一個未實現(xiàn)自動化的萬億美元產(chǎn)業(yè)，”他說。
 
The worldwide clothing market is estimated to be worth $1.52 trillion, the independent research group Statista says.
全球服裝市場估計價值 1.52 萬億美元，獨立研究小組 Statista 說。
 
Supply chain issues
供應鏈問題
 
The idea of using robots to increase manufacturing in the United States grew more popular during the pandemic. COVID-19 interfered with supply chains around the world, highlighting the risk of using distant factories.
在大流行期間，使用機器人來增加美國制造業(yè)的想法變得更加流行。 COVID-19 干擾了世界各地的供應鏈，凸顯了使用遠距離工廠的風險。
 
But moving clothing manufacturing back to Western markets, including the United States, is a sensitive issue.
但是將服裝制造轉(zhuǎn)移回包括美國在內(nèi)的西方市場是一個敏感問題。
 
Many clothing companies are unsure about publicly discussing automation. Such reports would cause public concern that automation will take jobs from workers in poor countries.
許多服裝公司對于公開討論自動化并不確定。此類報道會引起公眾的擔憂，即自動化將奪走貧窮國家工人的工作。
 
One industry inventor, Jonathan Zornow, said he has received online criticism, and a death threat, in connection with his work.
一位行業(yè)發(fā)明家 Jonathan Zornow 表示，他在網(wǎng)上收到了與他的工作有關的批評和死亡威脅。
 
Fabric problem
布料問題
Sewing - the act of using a needle and thread to make clothes - is especially difficult to automate.
縫紉——用針和線做衣服的過程——尤其難以實現(xiàn)自動化。
 
Robots do not have the fine touch skill that human hands do. Robots are getting better, but it will take years to fully develop their ability to handle fabric, said five researchers questioned by Reuters.
機器人不具備人手所具備的精細觸覺技能.接受路透社采訪的五位研究人員表示，機器人正在變得越來越好，但要完全發(fā)展它們處理織物的能力還需要數(shù)年時間。
 
But current research efforts are also looking at doing just enough work by machine to close the cost difference between U.S. and foreign factories.
但目前的研究工作也在考慮讓機器完成足夠的工作美國和外國工廠之間的成本差異。
 
Work at Siemens grew out of efforts to create software to guide robots that could handle all types of materials, such as thin wire cables, said Solowjow. He added that researchers soon realized one of the best targets for automation was clothing.
Solowjow 說，西門子的工作源于努力創(chuàng)建軟件來引導可以處理所有類型材料（例如細線電纜）的機器人。他補充說，研究人員很快意識到自動化的最佳目標之一是服裝。
 
Siemens worked with the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute in Pittsburgh. They identified a San Francisco company with a promising way to deal with the fabric problem. The startup, Sewbo Inc., hardens, or stiffens, fabric with chemicals. The hardened fabric is then similar to other material robots can handle, like metal for example. Once the robots finish sewing the piece, the clothing is washed to remove the chemical.
西門子與匹茲堡的先進制造機器人 (ARM) 研究所合作。他們找到了一家舊金山公司，該公司有一種很有前途的方法來處理面料問題。這家名為 Sewbo Inc. 的初創(chuàng)公司使用化學品使織物變硬或變硬。硬化后的織物類似于機器人可以處理的其他材料，例如金屬。一旦機器人完成縫紉，衣服就會被清洗以去除化學物質(zhì)。
 
"Pretty much every piece of denim is washed after it's made anyway, so this fits into the existing production system," said Zornow, Sewbo's inventor.
“幾乎每件牛仔布在制成后都會被清洗，所以這符合現(xiàn)有的生產(chǎn)方式
 
This research effort widened to include several clothing companies, including Levi's and Bluewater Defense LLC, a small U.S.-based maker of military clothes. They received $1.5 million in financing from the ARM Institute to experiment with the technique.
這項研究工作擴大到包括幾家服裝公司，包括 Levi's 和 Bluewater Defense LLC，這是一家總部位于美國的小型軍裝制造商。他們從 ARM 研究所獲得了 150 萬美元的資金來試驗這項技術(shù)。
 
Other efforts
其他努力
 
There are other efforts to automate sewing factories. Software Automation Inc, a startup in Georgia, has developed a machine that can sew clothing by pulling the cloth over a special table, for example.
還有其他努力使縫紉工廠自動化。例如，佐治亞州的初創(chuàng)公司 Software Automation Inc 開發(fā)了一種機器，可以通過將布料拉到一張?zhí)厥獾淖雷由蟻砜p制衣服。
 
Sanjeev Bahl, who opened a small jeans factory called Saitex in downtown Los Angeles two years ago , has studied the Sewbo machines. He is preparing to set up his first experimental machine.
兩年前在洛杉磯市中心開了一家名為 Saitex 的小型牛仔褲工廠的 Sanjeev Bahl 研究了 Sewbo 機器。他正準備安裝他的第一臺實驗機器。
 
At his factory in September, he said that many sewing jobs are ready for a new process.
9 月份在他的工廠里，他說許多縫紉工作已經(jīng)為新工藝做好了準備。
 
"If it works," he said, "I think there's no reason not to have large-scale (jeans) manufacturing here in the U.S. again."
“如果它有效”他說，“我認為沒有理由不在美國再次進行大規(guī)模（牛仔褲）生產(chǎn)。”