This robot can fold your laundry in seconds

Folding laundry is a bore. Thankfully, help is here in the form of a robot that just loves love to fold freshly washed clothes.

FoldiMate, which can fold, steam and dewrinkle apparel, has a row of trays, each one of which a piece of clothing can be clipped on to. The gadget then pulls a garment inside where robotic arms fold a piece of clothing in just 10 seconds before releasing it outside of the machine. FoldiMate, priced between $700 and $850, measures about 32 inches tall and 28 inches wide and can hold between 15 to 20 items. CEO Gal Rozov of the San Fransico-based company explains why you need to make room for this robot in your laundry room.

Did you develop FoldiMate because you hate folding laundry?

I started FoldiMate because I wanted to create something that would allow me to spend more time with my family. They bring me more joy than anything in the world, but when you have three children, certain household tasks like laundry can take up much more time than seems necessary. On laundry day, my wife and I dread the ding of the dryer because we know folding is the next step. From our personal experience, we knew other families must feel the same way and I wanted to create a better and more efficient way to take care of such a menial household chore.

How does FoldiMate work?

FoldiMate Family’s compact, easy-to-use design makes it the perfect complement to your laundry routine. Once clothes are dry, simply clip them into FoldiMate’s patented Easy Clipping loading system, where they will be fed through the machine’s advanced robotics mechanism and emerge neatly folded, every single time.

Could FoldiMate damage clothes?

There is less than a one per cent chance that FoldiMate Family will do anything other than fold your laundry and treat your clothes.

Could Foldimate fold all types of clothing?

FoldiMate Family can handle a variety of fabrics and garment types. The machine will fold shirts, pants, towels, pillow cases and virtually anything that will fit inside of it. This includes kids sizes and garments up to size XXL. FoldiMate doesn’t have the capability of folding linen, underwear, socks or baby clothes. We have yet to find a fabric that FoldiMate Family cannot handle.

Isn’t it faster to just fold clothes yourself?

FoldiMate’s Easy Clipping technology allows you to clip items to be folded in about three seconds. If you’re like us, you might think of folding clothes as the equivalent of doing the dishes by hand. If you could have expertly folded clothes every time you do laundry — therefore saving time and effort—wouldn’t you take advantage of it?

Foldimate is expensive but is it competitively priced?

We believe FoldiMate to be competitively priced, costing a little more than a typical washer or dryer. It’s important to note that due to the robotics used, we can only get the price to be so low, given the intricacy and expense of robotics.

—Daniel Casillas