3 ms·

From an engineering standpoint, what you describe is likely actually possible to implement right now. It would be expensive as heck, but it should be doable.

From an engineering standpoint, what you describe is likely actually possible to implement right now. It would be expensive as heck, but it should be doable. Meanwhile, no amount of money can currently buy you a robot that will completely do your laundry, because the problem has not yet been solved. The development of this stuff is not exactly intuitive.

R_haterade 9y ago
It's been implemented to some degree by Cliff Stoll for his klein bottle business. Or rather, he started a warehouse in his crawlspace. Same difference... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k3mVnRlQLU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k3mVnRlQLU
solatic 9y ago
Well, if the dumbwaiter idea is feasible, you'd just put the dirty laundry in the dumbwaiter, tell the dumbwaiter that it's dirty laundry (maybe provide further classification like "this is a white towel" or "this is a pair of blue jeans"), and wait for notifications from the dumbwaiter system to know when you can ask the dumbwaiter for your laundry back. Wondering if you could even build some kind of camera and some kind of clear washer and dryer that could track individual pieces of laundry such that the laundry of multiple tenants could be washed together to reduce wait times. Considering the trend for new construction is to have luxury housing, while problematic in general for much-needed affordable housing, maybe it represents an opportunity to develop a system like this, whereby a developer installs the dumbwaiter in the walls, sets up a dumbwaiter floor, and is the primary investor in a startup that builds out the dumbwaiter tech. As the developer builds out more buildings, and the dumbwaiter can do more things, buyers will pay more for units with the dumbwaiter, and the developer can possibly even license out the dumbwaiter tech to other developers.
- slfnflctd 9y ago
  My expectation would be that getting the laundry into and/or out of the average commodity washer & dryer might be harder than you think. Robotic dexterity is very limited, and clothing can move and morph in all kinds of unexpected ways. I'm sure a custom industrial-scale solution could be designed, but that still leaves the problem of folding. I suppose a compromise might be partial folding, like having the machine gently 'stack' the clothes in a return basket to minimize wrinkles.
- krzat 9y ago
  Well if you have a dumbwaiter, then you can just use some external service to do the washing. Disregarding security and privacy, big apartment complexes with these dumbwaiter could actually work, with shared storage space and and laundry systems.

R_haterade 9y ago

It's been implemented to some degree by Cliff Stoll for his klein bottle business. Or rather, he started a warehouse in his crawlspace. Same difference... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k3mVnRlQLU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k3mVnRlQLU

solatic 9y ago

Well, if the dumbwaiter idea is feasible, you'd just put the dirty laundry in the dumbwaiter, tell the dumbwaiter that it's dirty laundry (maybe provide further classification like "this is a white towel" or "this is a pair of blue jeans"), and wait for notifications from the dumbwaiter system to know when you can ask the dumbwaiter for your laundry back. Wondering if you could even build some kind of camera and some kind of clear washer and dryer that could track individual pieces of laundry such that the laundry of multiple tenants could be washed together to reduce wait times. Considering the trend for new construction is to have luxury housing, while problematic in general for much-needed affordable housing, maybe it represents an opportunity to develop a system like this, whereby a developer installs the dumbwaiter in the walls, sets up a dumbwaiter floor, and is the primary investor in a startup that builds out the dumbwaiter tech. As the developer builds out more buildings, and the dumbwaiter can do more things, buyers will pay more for units with the dumbwaiter, and the developer can possibly even license out the dumbwaiter tech to other developers.

slfnflctd 9y ago
My expectation would be that getting the laundry into and/or out of the average commodity washer & dryer might be harder than you think. Robotic dexterity is very limited, and clothing can move and morph in all kinds of unexpected ways. I'm sure a custom industrial-scale solution could be designed, but that still leaves the problem of folding. I suppose a compromise might be partial folding, like having the machine gently 'stack' the clothes in a return basket to minimize wrinkles.
krzat 9y ago
Well if you have a dumbwaiter, then you can just use some external service to do the washing. Disregarding security and privacy, big apartment complexes with these dumbwaiter could actually work, with shared storage space and and laundry systems.