This is my Shirt Folding Robot. Below is a short video presentation of how it works, as well as the code, circuit diagram, and some items that show my process.

This robot can efficiently and quickly fold shirts into a pile. It works by putting a shirt over the robot and sliding it until it is covering the ultrasonic sensor. It can fold white, long sleeved, polo, silk, and fabric shirts. It can also fold tank-tops, towels, and pants (sometimes).

This is a simple robot I came up with by taking inspiration from other shirt folding robot designs. I thought it would be a good idea to make cardboard flaps with servo horns glued to them and plug them into servos that control the flaps. As you can see, the final result is fast, makes an even square from each shirts, and stacks the shirts in a pile.

The Kinematic Sequence & Technical Details

The robot operates using 3 large hinged flaps: Left, Right, and Bottom.

1. The Trigger: The user lays the shirt flat on the table, smooths it out, and slides it until it covers the HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Sensor. The ultrasonic sensor is programmed to only sense fabric. I found out that the rays get stuck in fabric and take a long time to come out, which tricks the sensor into thinking that an object is really far away. So instead of detecting whether something is really close, I programmed it to check whether an object is really far. However this isn't efficient because I had to change the value in the if statement when I brought my robot to school.
2. Left Fold: The first servo pulls the left flap over, folding the left sleeve in. It delays to let the fabric settle, then returns.
3. Right Fold: The second servo pulls the right flap over, then returns.
4. The Finish: The third servo pulls the bottom flap up, folding the shirt in half perfectly and stacking it in a pile.

Torque vs. Cardboard & Component Sourcing

The biggest challenge is physical weight. The flaps have gaps in them to reduce torque, and the middle and end flaps use large high torque servos because using mini servos were too weak to carry the whole shirt.

• A standard SG90 micro-servo is too weak to lift a large piece of cardboard with a shirt resting on it.
• You must use MG996R Metal Gear Servos or similar high-torque servos.
• A Dedicated 6V/3A Power Supply is essential. If you try to power 3 massive servos directly from the Arduino, the board will reset and the project will fail.

The servo wires are tucked under the base, where the Arduino and Arduino sensor shield are located.

I think this is a simple and fun project for beginners and I think it is really cool when it is done. It is also customizable with other mechanisms, like one that pulls the shirt on the robot for you or one that pushes the stack of shirts aside once 5 shirts are folded.

Here is the circuit diagram (Sorry if it is bad it is my first time making a schematic):

Here are some related items:

Link to Reddit (Final robot): https://www.reddit.com/r/ArduinoProjects/comments/14vxfo8/final_shirt_folding_robot/

Link to Youtube (Final robot): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c9QOJULUmw

Link to Reddit (Old robot): https://www.reddit.com/r/ArduinoProjects/comments/zwk35j/new_and_improved_folding_robot_i_will_be_adding/