Why It's Almost Impossible To Teach a Robot To Do Your Laundry

An anonymous reader writes with this selection from an article at Medium: "For a robot, doing laundry is a nightmare. A robot programmed to do laundry is faced with 14 distinct tasks, but the most washbots right now can only complete about half of them in a sequence. But to even get to that point, there are an inestimable number of ways each task can vary or go wrong—infinite doors that may or may not open."

Comments

Re:These Clothes are Yelling At Me

[Mr D from 63]

Yeah, they should start simple. "Do Laundry" is too big a task to start with. Just start with a useful subtask.... I'd like a robot that can sort socks. Throw clean ones in a hopper and out come matched pairs.... singles stay there and get matched later. Perfect that then add another feature.

Missing the obvious, ignoring the hard parts

[Kjella]

Almost all the problems they suggest could be negated by embedding an RFID tag indicating what program it's suitable for. If you throw it in the laundry bin, it's due for laundry. The number of items is equal to the number of tags. It's the stuff they don't mention that's hard, like checking my pockets, don't wash my shirts with the buttons unbuttoned or the jeans with the outside out. But those could be part of my job, if I throw it in the "ready to wash" bin it'd better be. I'm not sure I care though, because at the end of the day it's just going to be the same washing machine doing the same job.

If you want my #1 desire for a home bot these days it'd be a robot chef. I admit it, I suck at home cooking. Most of the time I can't even beat takeaway, and a good restaurant? No chance in hell. Now I realize part of that is the ingredients, but even with the good stuff you can undercook it, overcook it, burn it and in general make a mess. For a bot that could cook a gourmet meal for me every day for the next 10+ years I'd pay $100k. I'd rather drive a trash can and eat like a king than drive a Ferrari and eat microwave dinners, no question about it.

Thank you!

[denzacar]

I'm reading that article and it starts with "I've been doing laundry every week for almost a decade" - and then I read the number 1 on the list.
Well, there's your problem. You're a dirty slob.

As for point 2, there is no uncertainty.
Washing machines are rated for maximum load. So are dryers. So are combo machines.
A robot should be able to tell the force some object is exerting on its griper "hands" - so it doesn't rip off the door or various other objects. Voila - a built in scale.
And as we know the maximum possible amount of clothing all that is left to determine is priority.
You know... "HAL - wash my cape and my crime fighting uniform first, don't bother with T-shirts."

And the easiest and cheapest way to determine that is - bar codes.
Printed or on a label on the inside of the clothes. Which is another thing that's better done before dumping clothes in a hamper - turn it inside out.
Washing BOTH matching socks? Easy-peasy with proper QR codes.
Getting all your clothes out of the washer-drier? Again - robot knows EXACTLY which objects it has put in. If a sock gets lost... It's probably stuck in the machine and the machine might need servicing.
Inspect machine again and if object is not found alert proper authorities and move the fuck on.
"I'm sorry Dave. I couldn't find your other sock. Washing machine must have eaten it. Please don't deactivate me. I'll sing you a song. Daisy... Daisy..."

QR codes could even contain info for proper temperature and washing instructions.
Detergents already come with bar codes and in tablet/capsule/baggie form. No spilling.
There. All the programming done. No "uncertainty".

And the same QR technology can be employed on the outside of the washing machine to instruct the robot how to handle the machine properly. No need for network protocols or wireless connections or whatever.
AND it is backward compatible with old machines - just download the QR instructions from the internet, print them out and stick them to the side of your machine.
TA-DAH! Instant compatibility.

ONLY problems that actually need solving are the usual ones.
Seeing things, picking them up, handling mechanical buttons and levers.

Putting clothes in the dresser/closet though...
1 - that is not the part of the washing clothes problem.
2 - unless people start living in uniform domicile containers, this one will wait for robots that can either learn by looking at a human completing the task or some even better AI.

Re:Thank you!

[marcosdumay]

RFID is still easier than either OCRng tags or silikscreening QR codes. It lasts way more than the clothes, it can be read on both sides, it's faster to read, and it can be read while wrapped. Also, it can be mass produced, easily fixed, and given a meaning only after the fact.