FoldiMate

FoldiMate
Privately owned
Industry Home automation
Founded 2016
Founders Gal Rozov
Headquarters California, USA
Products Laundry folding robot
Website http://www.foldimate.com

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

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]

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. ↑ Its 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
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