FoldiMate

FoldiMate is a California-based company developing a robotic laundry folding machine.

FoldiMate
Privately owned
IndustryHome automation
Founded2012
FoundersGal Rozov
HeadquartersSilicon Valley, California, USA
ProductsLaundry folding robot
Websitehttp://www.foldimate.com

History

Foldimate was founded by Gal Rozov, an Israeli software engineer who decided that folding laundry was a tedious chore that could be done effectively by a robot.[1] In 2010, Rozov quit his job as a software developer and product manager and spent two years developing his laundry-folding device. In 2012, he moved to the United States to work with a robotic team in Silicon Valley. By 2013, he had a patented technology. In 2016, after an initial round of investment, he produced the first prototype.[2] The prototype presented at CES 2017 generated much interest.[3]

The company exhibited an updated prototype of Foldimate at CES 2018.[4]

In January 2018, BSH Hausgeräte expressed an interest in partnering with Foldimate.[5]

Overview
FoldiMate prototype

The FoldiMate is slightly larger than a standard washing machine. According to the developers, it can fold a full wash in less than 4 minutes.[6]

The user clips the piece of clothing on two hooks and the item is pulled into the machine. Then a series of rollers and arms moves in all directions to straighten and fold it.[7] The machine can fold shirts, tops, trousers and dresses, but not small pieces of clothing like underwear or large items like sheets.[8][9] The folded items are returned in a stack through a window at the bottom of the machine.[10]

Previous versions included anti-wrinkling technology and fragrance features, but the product was redesigned and simplified with the aim of readying it for the market by the end of 2019.[11] [12]

gollark: It would have been nice if we ended up with P2P 802.11whatever (WiFi) instead of Bluetooth, since at least then there would be fewer protocols to deal with.
gollark: Mostly I do actually have to think before typing things, so typing speed isn't a *terrible* concern.
gollark: I can type 100WPM or so on my laptop's keyboard, and really slowly on my phone even with the autospellcorrection.
gollark: I really just want a cuboid with a 5"-diagonal display with a sensibly low-resolution rectangular LCD screen (or a smaller one with a keyboard or something, like BlackBerry's keyone stuff), enough thickness to fit in a few days of battery life, swappable batteries (maybe even two), GNU/Linux support, headphone jacks and other important IO (maybe a USB-C and USB-A port), and µSD card support.
gollark: And notches, weird curvey screens you can't put in cases easily, overlarge screens, sort of thing.

See also

References
  1. Robot That Can Fold Your Laundry In Less Than Three Minutes
  2. The robot that can fold your laundry in less than three minutes
  3. It's 2018 and robots still won't do our laundry, Popular Science
  4. The 9 weirdest gadgets Time.com
  5. It's the new year and you're getting laundry folding robots because the 1960s thought of everything
  6. Laundry folding machine neatly stacks full wash in 4 minutes, Business Insider
  7. The $800 laundry-folding robot for those who don't have a housekeeper, ExtremeTech
  8. Garun, Natt. "There are many reasons not to buy this laundry folding machine, but you only need one". The Next Web.
  9. Titcomb, James. "This £600 laundry robot will fold your clothes in seconds". The Telegraph.
  10. Sick of folding clothes? This machine does it for you
  11. Sick of folding clothes? This machine does it for you
  12. Helpful for Homes
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