A US company FoldiMate has invented an appliance robot, that folds and spits out pristine shirts and blouses.
The $1,200 machine could go on sale in Australia late next year with at least one distributor expressing interest in the device, that 85 of consumers researched claimed that they would love to purchase.
FoldiMate unveiled their one-metre-high robot that will take in crumpled shirts, tops and trousers and spew out neatly folded and steamed garments.
The machine has a row of trays, each one of which a piece of clothing can be clipped on to. Once pulled inside the machine, the FoldiMate senses the type of garment and a series of robot arms is used to fold it into place.
It can also de-wrinkle items by steaming them as they exit the machine. The company says it takes around 10 seconds to fold each item and can hold between 15 and 20 pieces of clothing at a time.
At the end of the process, they are released from the machine in a neat pile.
Some pieces of clothing can’t be folded with the machine, including underwear and large items such as linen.
Although the concept is simple, FoldiMate has been developing the machine with a team of experienced roboticists for years.
A commercial version has existed since 2014, but pre-orders for a household version are set to be released next year. More than 11,000 people have already registered on the company’s website.
