A Robot That Washes Your Clothes, Then Folds Them

Hate doing laundry? Shin Sakane has a solution. The Japanese inventor received 6 billion yen ($53 million) from partners, including Panasonic Corp, last month to advance “the Laundroid” – a robot Sakane is developing to not only wash and dry garments, but also sort, fold and arrange them. The refrigerator size device could eventually fill the roles of washing machine, dryer and clothes drawer. Sakane, whose earlier inventions include an anti-snoring device and golf clubs made of space materials, said the funding will bring closer his dream of liberating humanity from laundry. Among his inspirations for the project is the 1968 Stanley Kubrick sci-fi classic ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’. Laundroid was designed to resemble the mysterious objects in the film that brought technology to prehistoric humans, and the project was originally code-name ‘Monolith’. While the full product is slated for release in 2019, an early version that can only sort and fold clothing goes on sale worldwide in March. Sakane wouldn’t disclose how Laundroid works, but patents show that users dump clothes in a lower drawer and robotic arms grab each item as scanners look for features such as buttons or a collar. Once identifies, the clothes are folded using sliding plates and neatly stacked on upper shelves for collection.