A laundry-folding machine or laundry-folding robot is a machine or

domestic robot A domestic robot or homebot is a type of service robot, an autonomous robot that is primarily used for household chores, but may also be used for education, entertainment or therapy. While most domestic robots are simplistic, some are connect ...

which folds apparel such that they can be stored compactly and orderly. A laundry folding machine can be a part of or integrated with a

washing machine A washing machine (laundry machine, clothes washer, washer, or simply wash) is a machine designed to laundry, launder clothing. The term is mostly applied to machines that use water. Other ways of doing laundry include dry cleaning (which uses ...

clothes dryer A clothes dryer (tumble dryer, drying machine, drying device, or simply dryer) is a powered Home appliance, household appliance that is used to remove moisture from a load of clothing, bedding and other textiles, usually after they are washed in ...

ironing Ironing is the use of an iron (appliance), iron, usually heated, to remove wrinkles and unwanted creases from fabric. The heating is commonly done to a temperature of , depending on the fabric. Ironing works by loosening the bonds between the lon ...

machine and/or

wardrobe A wardrobe, also called armoire or almirah, is a standing closet used for storing clothes. The earliest wardrobe was a chest, and it was not until some degree of luxury was attained in regal palaces and the castles of powerful nobles that sep ...

. Some operate these processes autonomously, while other require varying degrees of manual intervention.

Industrial use

For industrial use, there are several types of laundry folding machines in different sizes and varieties, of which some are very specialized for certain types of clothing, or very large to be able to fold large textiles such as

bedding Bedding, also called bedclothes or bed linen, is the materials laid above the mattress of a bed for hygiene, warmth, protection of the mattress, and decorative effect. Bedding is the removable and washable portion of a human sleeping environment ...

Domestic use

There have been several attempts to produce commercial clothes folding machines for home use.

FoldiMate FoldiMate was a California-based company developing a robotic laundry-folding machine founded in 2012. Their clothes folding machine was aimed to enter the market by the end of 2019. In 2021, the company folded. History Foldimate was founded by ...

was an American company founded in 2010, which presented a prototype of a clothes folding machine first in 2016, then at the

Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...

in 2017, and an updated prototype at CES in 2018. The garments had to be manually fed into the machine from top one at a time, and after a few minutes the user could pick up ready-made clothes at the bottom. Their goal was for FoldiMate to enter the market by the end of 2019, but in July 2021 it became clear that the company would cease its operations.

Laundroid Laundroid was a laundry-folding machine and home robot, used to automatically wash, dry, iron, sort and fold clothes to a dedicated closet. It was dubbed to be the world's first laundry folding robot, and was planned to go on sale in Japan fir ...

was a Japanese combined washing and folding machine that aimed at being able to wash, dry, iron and fold clothes, and then transport them to an integrated wardrobe - completely autonomously, with an estimated working duration being overnight. It was first shown at the consumer electronics exhibition show

CEATEC Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies (also known as CEATEC) is an annual trade show in Japan. It is regarded as the Japanese equivalent of Consumer Electronics Show. It is Japan's largest IT and electronics exhibition and conference. ...

in 2015, and was marketed as the world's first robot that could wash and fold clothes. The goal was for Laundroid to enter the market in 2017 (later adjusted to 2019), but in 2019 the company behind Laundroid, Seven Dreams, announced that they had gone bankrupt. The development had been supported by amongst others

Daiwa House is Japan's largest homebuilder, specializing in prefabricated houses. The company is also engaged in the construction of factories, shopping centers, health care facilities, the management and operation of resort hotels, golf courses and fitn ...

and

Panasonic is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and c ...

References

{{Home appliances Rotating machines

Folding machine A folding machine is a machine used primarily for the folding of paper. Folding is the sharp-edged bending of paper webs or sheets under pressure at a prepared or unprepared bending point along a straight line according to specified dimensions and ...

Domestic robots

Industrial use

Domestic use

See also

References