Under Armour's new innovation lab features robots that make sneakers - take a look inside
The Lighthouse is located inside a former garage in Port Covington, an area south of Baltimore's city center. It's a 10-minute drive from the main campus.
The space is the first major addition to UA's planned expansion in Baltimore. Eventually, the new campus is expected to house over 10,000 employees — the multibillion-dollar plan calls for three skyscrapers and a stadium.
As UA's innovation hub, the Lighthouse will be the place where new products get tested. The idea behind the facility is to make the production process faster and more efficient, the Lighthouse's director, Adam Bayer, tells Tech Insider.
It's full of mind-blowing technology, like this machine that molds the toes of sneakers.
A lighting-fast laser cutter called the Lectra is programmed to slice fabric in a way that generates the least amount of waste possible.
Once a worker puts the pattern in the system, the computer figures out the optimal way to slice it.
It can cut through up to 50 sheets of fabric at once.
The machine can apply glue to 2,400 pairs of shoes in eight hours — a task that would normally require a 200-person production line. The bot only needs one person to man it.
Another machine (pictured below) can mold ultra-light soles from a special dense foam, called EVA.
To bond the soles to the body of the shoe, UA uses heat instead of glue, since glue can add weight to sneakers.
The machine can make cool patterns on the bottom of the soles.
Designers can use the avatars to study every crevice of an athlete's body and make custom athletic wear just for them.
For example, using 3D scans of tennis star Sloane Stephens, UA's designers can look at how a shirt will drape when she swings her racket. Since her body's shape changes based on how much she's training, the team can anticipate how Stephen's clothing will fit and adjust accordingly.
Lighthouse employees are constantly working to improve the design process. Pictured below is a sewing machine that can temporarily bind fabric without making a single stitch.
This gives UA the freedom to try out different designs without wasting fabric or thread. If the team wants to try something different, they can easily pull the fabric apart and start over.
Instead of a traditional elastic waistband for pants, which can pinch the skin after a few hours, the UA team is experimenting with using the thin tape pictured below.
The workers just press it to a piece of fabric, pull off the backing, and the fabric magically becomes stretchy.
The Lighthouse team also aims to improve the process of 3D-printing shoes. In July, UA will premiere a new line of 3D-printed shoes called the Architech.
UA's 3D printer can sculpt the Architech sneakers from powder in under 24 hours. It builds each layer of the shoe by heating the powder, which solidifies it.
UA hopes that by putting the best designers, developers, and engineers all in one room, the brand can improve how it makes its products, Haley says.
The company is committed to designing and manufacturing the next generation of athletic apparel.
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