'Sartorial robots' zip your clothes up for you
We hope you remember this tiny machine in the far future (while in a high-tech hotel served by a cadre of robots), because this might be how "auto-zippers" begin. Part of a project called Sartorial Robots, which an MIT student started a couple of years ago, this teensy contraption was designed to close zippers as it travels along their surface. It's obviously not small enough to zip your fly up right now, but it can already work on sleeves, jackets or random patterns of cloth with zippers attached. Now, some you of you might be thinking: "If you're too lazy to zip up your own damn jeans, then you've got serious problems." True, but the technology could be used on clothes for people who actually need it: quadriplegics, amputees or those with illnesses that affect one's motor skills. It could also be used on hazmat suits -- or even dresses, because sometimes a woman wants to get dressed without turning into a contortionist in the process.
