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Yes, exactly. Every robot from these companies I'd seen were underwhelming and nothing I would have spent money on. A robot that could do my laundry I'd pay $

Yes, exactly. Every robot from these companies I'd seen were underwhelming and nothing I would have spent money on. A robot that could do my laundry I'd pay $2000 for.

cwbrandsma 8y ago
As would I, but I don't think anyone could make one that cheaply right now. I thinking of automatic milking machines for cows. Those things cost $180k each (which is why so few dairymen have them). I can't imaging a laundry machine for less than $20k right now...probably much worse.
AlotOfReading 8y ago
That's both a relatively cheap price tag for a robot and a famously hard problem in robotics. You're in luck though, foldimate is aiming to launch this year for $1k. Given that a washer/dryer combo can be purchased separately for ~$1k, all you'd need to do is load each machine. Ain't the future cool?
- sbov 8y ago
  I looked at this because we've mostly given up folding clothes with our 3 kids. I watched a video of that machine and it seems to be more for people who hate the act of folding clothes instead of people who don't have the time to fold clothes. In comparison, our Roomba is a time saver because it means we don't have to do anything at all to vacuum every day.
  - Ajedi32 8y ago
    Yeah, the fact that you can't just dump a pile of cloths into the machine and get neatly folded stacks out the bottom makes it far less useful IMO. Still might save _some_ time, but not nearly as much as you might expect.
  - AlotOfReading 8y ago
    That's because it's fantastically difficult to manipulate soft, flexible fabrics. Building a [plausibly person-sized] robot that can reliably manage the entire laundry cycle end-to-end is hard to imagine doing on current tech no matter how much money you have. We're only going to see these sort of semi-partial solutions for a long time to come.
- sct202 8y ago
  Foldimate does look promising, but in the videos it looks like you have to stand their and manually feed in which seems kind of time consuming.
  - sound1 8y ago
    I wo der why didn't they invent another robot for that job and sell as an addon...
jelling 8y ago
One data point: in NYC, wash and fold laundry service costs me ~$15 every 2 weeks. It would take 5 years (133 loads) for the robot to break-even and that's not counting soap or the time-value of money. Granted my clothes are relatively simple and non-delicate, but if the robot must handle delicates it will likely increase the costs as well. The number one blind-spot for robotics projects is ignoring the availability of cheap (and often illegal) immigrant labor in most major locales. Western programmers think of most physical labor as abhorrent but working in a laundry in Western countries is often much better paid and comfortable than the alternatives back home. Plus your children typically have access to much higher education and opportunities.
- tlb 8y ago
  A 5 year ROI isn't fatal. When people buy cars rather than taking taxis, the ROI is > 5 years. Many emerging technologies (solar panels, electric cars) start gaining market share when the ROI is in the 20-30 year range.
  - jelling 8y ago
    We'd have to define success. The adoption rate for washer/dryer's is what a VC would want to see and solar panels are nowhere near that.
    - tlb 8y ago
      Solar panels are a $40B/yr industry! Many investors have done extremely well in it. The best time to invest is when the adoption rate is still low, not when most people already have one.
- hhs 8y ago
  Yeah, that's been my observation too. I used to live in NYC and felt that. I empathize. Then I moved to Cambridge, UK, for some time and was surprised at how much dry cleaning would cost; it was quite expensive so I cut down on that. With respect to labor, I also think robotics needs to consider humans as a variable in the equation, especially if they want to compete on a task that it's easy to substitute. This gets into politics, too, and it's a question worth thinking about. I wonder: as generations change, now that we're going from Baby Boomers to Millennials to Gen Z, how will this impact views and policies?

Yes, exactly. Every robot from these companies I'd seen were underwhelming and nothing I would have spent money on. A robot that could do my laundry I'd pay $2000 for.

cwbrandsma 8y ago

As would I, but I don't think anyone could make one that cheaply right now. I thinking of automatic milking machines for cows. Those things cost $180k each (which is why so few dairymen have them). I can't imaging a laundry machine for less than $20k right now...probably much worse.

AlotOfReading 8y ago

That's both a relatively cheap price tag for a robot and a famously hard problem in robotics. You're in luck though, foldimate is aiming to launch this year for $1k. Given that a washer/dryer combo can be purchased separately for ~$1k, all you'd need to do is load each machine. Ain't the future cool?

sbov 8y ago
I looked at this because we've mostly given up folding clothes with our 3 kids. I watched a video of that machine and it seems to be more for people who hate the act of folding clothes instead of people who don't have the time to fold clothes. In comparison, our Roomba is a time saver because it means we don't have to do anything at all to vacuum every day.
- Ajedi32 8y ago
  Yeah, the fact that you can't just dump a pile of cloths into the machine and get neatly folded stacks out the bottom makes it far less useful IMO. Still might save _some_ time, but not nearly as much as you might expect.
- AlotOfReading 8y ago
  That's because it's fantastically difficult to manipulate soft, flexible fabrics. Building a [plausibly person-sized] robot that can reliably manage the entire laundry cycle end-to-end is hard to imagine doing on current tech no matter how much money you have. We're only going to see these sort of semi-partial solutions for a long time to come.
sct202 8y ago
Foldimate does look promising, but in the videos it looks like you have to stand their and manually feed in which seems kind of time consuming.
- sound1 8y ago
  I wo der why didn't they invent another robot for that job and sell as an addon...

jelling 8y ago

One data point: in NYC, wash and fold laundry service costs me ~$15 every 2 weeks. It would take 5 years (133 loads) for the robot to break-even and that's not counting soap or the time-value of money. Granted my clothes are relatively simple and non-delicate, but if the robot must handle delicates it will likely increase the costs as well. The number one blind-spot for robotics projects is ignoring the availability of cheap (and often illegal) immigrant labor in most major locales. Western programmers think of most physical labor as abhorrent but working in a laundry in Western countries is often much better paid and comfortable than the alternatives back home. Plus your children typically have access to much higher education and opportunities.

tlb 8y ago
A 5 year ROI isn't fatal. When people buy cars rather than taking taxis, the ROI is > 5 years. Many emerging technologies (solar panels, electric cars) start gaining market share when the ROI is in the 20-30 year range.
- jelling 8y ago
  We'd have to define success. The adoption rate for washer/dryer's is what a VC would want to see and solar panels are nowhere near that.
  - tlb 8y ago
    Solar panels are a $40B/yr industry! Many investors have done extremely well in it. The best time to invest is when the adoption rate is still low, not when most people already have one.
hhs 8y ago
Yeah, that's been my observation too. I used to live in NYC and felt that. I empathize. Then I moved to Cambridge, UK, for some time and was surprised at how much dry cleaning would cost; it was quite expensive so I cut down on that. With respect to labor, I also think robotics needs to consider humans as a variable in the equation, especially if they want to compete on a task that it's easy to substitute. This gets into politics, too, and it's a question worth thinking about. I wonder: as generations change, now that we're going from Baby Boomers to Millennials to Gen Z, how will this impact views and policies?