Laundry

Swedish inventor Simone Giertz, famously known as the “Queen of Shitty Robots,” has launched her new product on Kickstarter: the Laundry Chair. It’s a clever solution for anyone who uses their chairs to store clothes (so, pretty much all of us).

Years before Samsung and others started tackling microplastic from machine washes escaping into the environment, there was Slovenia-based PlanetCare. Now the company has announced its second-generation external filter.

At CES 2023 in January, Samsung hatched a plan to stem the tide of microfibers shed during washing cycles from entering seas and oceans via a special wash program and an external filter. Now that Less Microfiber Filter has launched.

The Sonic Soak is designed to act like a tiny, portable washing machine, using sound waves to clean clothes – including your delicates – as well as jewelry, toothbrushes, cutlery, baby items, fruit, veggies and basically whatever else can be thrown into a tub of water with it.

​Aimed at off-grid tiny home dwellers, campers and city folk looking to reduce their environmental impact, and their utility bills, the Drumi originally went up for pre-order back in 2015. Now, the foot-powered mini washing machine is in production ahead of shipping in the coming months.​

Most of us use a washing machine to do our laundry, instead of washing it by hand. Well, effie is an ironing machine. According to its UK-based creators, you just hang damp clothes up in it – straight from the washer – and they come out dried, pressed and wrinkle-free.

Last year, ORNL scientists revealed they were working on ultrasonic clothes drying technology. At the time, they said they planned to implement the technology in a press dryer and a clothes dryer drum. A new video shows they've been true to their word.

​Samsung has unveiled a new washer-dryer combo that should help laundry day pass more quickly. Along with the main front-loading compartments for washing and drying, the FlexWash + FlexDry boasts smaller separate compartments on top, for washing small loads and drying your delicates simultaneously.

"Imagine handing over your laundry to a friend who folds it for you" is the rather deft way in which FoldiMate describes the benefits of its robotic clothes folding machine. The firm says its device can cut in half the time spent on the laborious task of clothes folding, albeit for a hefty outlay.

Peggy is a smart clothes-peg prototype that uses a number of sensors and local weather information to tell you when the washing is dry and ping you when rain's on the way to prevent you drying the same load twice.

If you want to add a piece of laundry to a top-loading washing machine that's already in a wash cycle, you can just open the lid and chuck it in. Well, Samsung's new WW8500 AddWash now lets you do the same thing with a front-loader.

In 2012, the Scrubba Wash Bag was launched as the world’s smallest clothes washing machine. Now, the team behind it is launching the Scrubba Pack, which also functions as the user’s backpack.