If you believe Seven Dreamers, ‘Laundroid’ could completely automate laundry

Walking by the Seven Dreamers booth at CES was a bit of serendipity for me. I was on my way to another appointment, but how could I not stop and marvel at a machine that handles one of my least favorite things: folding laundry?

‘Laundroid’ works using advanced image analysis and a suite of robotic tools that, well, folds laundry after a user inserts it into the machine. The prototype was on display, but unfortunately the demo was actually done via video rather than from the machine itself. That said, it still looked impressive.

You simply put your clothes in the machine.

From there, ‘Laundroid’ closes the door and presumably performs magic or puts the Oompa-Loompa’s to work. You’re left with clean and wrinkle-free clothing, folded with all the care of a teenager working at Aeropostale.

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What’s even more impressive is how the company plans to completely automate laundry by 2019. That is, using the ‘Laundroid’ to wash, dry and fold your clothes, all with minimal interaction from humans.

But then again, it’s just a prototype with a lot of work yet to do, so who knows if it’ll ever see the light of day. Personally, I don’t think ‘Laundroid’ is as far along as the video demo would have you believe, and the Chinese company didn’t offer an in-person demo at its booth to prove otherwise. Instead, the company held a private reveal and showed passersby a video of said reveal.

The closed door approach of the demo also leads to questions. Couldn’t ‘Laundroid’ have used clear glass or plastic so that the press could get a glimpse at what was actually happening?

If we do see ‘Laundroid,’ it won’t be until at least 2017, but the initial plan is to release it to hotels, hospitals and nursing homes to help with the full-time job that is folding laundry.

It’ll be available to consumers as well, but the price has yet to be set and there is no timeline beyond a possible debut in 2017.

➤ Laundroid [Seven Dreamers]