TOKYO – A Japanese start-up will unveil the world’s first robot that can fold a shirt in ten minutes.
Seven Dreamers, the company which has spent a decade working on the ‘Laundroid’, says the robot has the potential to revolutionize home life.
The company claims on its website the device could create more time since the average person spends 9,000 hours, or 375 days, folding laundry in their lifetimes.
However, there is still no price tag on the device, which is about the size of a wardrobe and uses artificial intelligence and image recognition technology to fold and stack clothes.
Despite some critics called it ‘ridiculous, frivolous, and a waste of engineering talent’, electronics giant Panasonic has invested $60m (£49m) in the project which is due on the market next year.
Panasonic told the BBC it was only funding 10% of the project, saying it was “providing the expertise” for an “all in one” device that can also wash and dry clothes, slated for 2019.
Japan’s Daiwa Housing is another minor investor.
