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Panasonic Invests $60 Million In World's First Laundry-Folding Robot (telegraph.co.uk)

Posted by BeauHD on from the money-well-spent dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Telegraph.co.uk: Panasonic has invested tens of millions of dollars in a robot that can reduce the time it takes to wash clothes by sorting clean items and folding them into neat piles. The electronics giant will pour $60 million into the startup behind the folding robot called Laundroid, which was first unveiled in October last year. The domestic robot has been a decade in the making and is expected to finally be available to buy next year. Created by Japanese company Seven Dreamers, the Laundroid can fold a shirt in ten minutes and sort clothing into types.
Seven Dreamers is yet to say how much the robot, which is around the same size as a fridge-freezer, will cost, but Panasonic is reportedly funding just 10pc of the project. Consumers place clothes in a drawer at the bottom of the Laundroid, which it then identifies, sorts and folds using a combination of image recognition software, advanced robotics and machine learning. It can fold a range of clothing items, including shirts, skirts, shorts and trousers, according to Seven Dreamers. The company plans to release the Laundroid in March 2017, and will unveil more details at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

9 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. Fold a shirt in 10 minutes? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Does it mean a load of shirts? Haha my kids can fold a shirt in 10 minutes.. Including the time spent convincing them

    1. Re:Fold a shirt in 10 minutes? by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Funny

      My kids can make twenty shirts in that time. Each.

      But then again, they work for a Wal-Mart supplier in Bangladesh.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    2. Re:Fold a shirt in 10 minutes? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Haha my kids can fold a shirt in 10 minutes..

      This single task robot has nothing better to do. It is silly to spend money to make it faster just so it can have more idle time.

      Including the time spent convincing them

      If you want to speed up your kids, unplug the router until all the laundry is folded.

    3. Re:Fold a shirt in 10 minutes? by HornWumpus · · Score: 4, Funny

      https://www.walmart.com/c/kp/d...

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    4. Re:Fold a shirt in 10 minutes? by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't understand the idea of making kids do chores.

      YOU chose to have them and they didn't get a say in it - why should they have to work for you?

      Because they are not your customers and you are not their servant. They are your children who have to learn that they are not the center of the universe, that the world does not owe them a living, and that there's no way you'll get by in this life without working. Chores are the first act of learning to be a good citizen.

      --
      Drill baby drill - on Mars
    5. Re:Fold a shirt in 10 minutes? by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Interesting

      While my kids are "good" in the sense they don't get into trouble in terms of fights, vandalism, etc.; they won't do chores. We tried taking away privileges and gizmos, but they dig in. If we try to starve them, they sneak away and visit relatives or neighbors and make sad puppy-dog eyes so that the relatives feed them, AND give them gizmos to use.

      It's kind of like prisoners: they have all day to think about and discuss escape techniques, and therefore often outsmart the guards: it's a game to them. I honestly don't have the discipline to prevent or work-around all the tricks they've learned; it would consume most of my free time The prisoners won!

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    6. Re:Fold a shirt in 10 minutes? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      > If you want to speed up your kids, unplug the router until all the laundry is folded.

      Darn kids today, spending all their time in the woodshop... get outdoors! Get some fresh air!

  2. I was too early by TJHook3r · · Score: 5, Funny

    I had a business selling laundry robots but it folded :(

  3. Here's an idea... by moosehooey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    1. Put your shirts on hangers
    2. Buy a bunch of the same kind of socks and just throw them all in a drawer
    3. Pile underwear into a drawer flat
    4. Only have to fold pants and shorts, and that's quick and easy
    5. Way cheaper than this thing will probly be...