The first robot that can sew together a complete item of clothing could put an end to sweatshop labour in the manufacture of low-cost garments.

Sewbo, created by Seattle-based web developer Jonathan Zornow, is able to use a sewing machine and chemically stiffened pieces of material to create basic clothes, such as t-shirts.

Specialist machines are currently used in clothing manufacture to sew small sections of garments, as well as weave fabrics and cut material into the right shape. But until now no machine has been able to assemble an item of clothing in its entirety.

Designed to "create higher quality clothing at lower costs", the Sewbo robot overcomes the traditional difficulties robots have had handling limp fabrics by temporarily stiffening them with a liquid version of a thermoplastic chemical used in 3D printing.