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Teaching Robots To Recycle Smart Clothes

• By  Textile Excellence
• July 28, 2026

Smart clothing is getting smarter. Now the robots recycling it have to catch up.

Researchers at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences in Germany have launched a two-year project to develop an AI-powered robotic system that can identify and sort smart textiles from piles of discarded clothing.

The challenge is bigger than it sounds. Smart textiles can contain sensors, electronic components and conductive materials. Unlike ordinary garments, they cannot simply be thrown into conventional textile recycling streams.

The ReSiST-AR project, backed by nearly €442,000 from the European Regional Development Fund and the State of Lower Saxony, aims to change that.

The system will combine multispectral cameras, 3D sensors and AI-based material recognition to identify different fabrics and detect embedded electronics. Robots will then pick smart garments from mixed textile piles and send them into appropriate recycling streams.

That is no easy task.

Clothes arrive wrinkled, folded, overlapping and bundled together. Colours, materials and shapes can vary enormously. Robots that work well with rigid objects struggle when faced with a messy pile of soft textiles.

The researchers also want to tackle the problem at the design stage.

They are studying ways of integrating electronics through embroidery, sewn-in components and welded connections so that sensors and other parts can be easily removed when a garment reaches the end of its life.

The goal is bigger than a smarter sorting machine.

It is about creating regional recycling loops, reducing the need to ship used clothing thousands of kilometres for manual sorting and making the next generation of smart textiles easier to recycle from the start.

The message is clear:

If clothes are getting smarter, their recycling systems need to get smarter too.

The goal is bigger than a smarter sorting machine. It is about creating regional recycling loops, reducing the need to ship used clothing thousands of kilometres for manual sorting and making the next generation of smart textiles easier to recycle from the start. The message is clear: If clothes are getting smarter, their recycling systems need to get smarter too.