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AI-powered laundry-folding robot company has filed for bankruptcy

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Re: AI-powered laundry-folding robot company has filed for bankruptcy

#71

Post by DanBC »

jfk13 wrote: post #61
Swizec wrote: post #17

At last modern fabrics don't require ironing anymore. You can put away a dryer's worth of clothes in less time than it takes to watch a quarter of an episode of Game of Thrones. It's really not that hard (for a human) Industrial scale though ... but can AI really be cheaper than a skilled minimum wage professional? You know someone who has folded thousands of t-shirts and really gotten it down to an impressive speed.…

> At last modern fabrics don't require ironing anymore. Would those "modern fabrics" be the ones using synthetic fibres that contribute thousands of plastic microparticles to the water each time they go through the wash?

I guess GP is talking about "poly cotton blends" rather than pure polyester or acrylic. But yes, poly-cotton blends do release microplastics.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/sep/27/washing-clot...

> They found that acrylic was the worst offender, releasing nearly 730,000 tiny synthetic particles per wash, five times more than polyester-cotton blend fabric, and nearly 1.5 times as many as polyester.

People have no idea how many fibres are released per kg of clothing. It can be a surprising amount.

https://www.naturvardsverket.se/Documents/publ-kompl/1003-10...

> From the results from the measurements, calculations were made to estimate the number of released microplastic particles. The release varied significantly between the different laundries. If the calculations were based on an assumed best-case scenario, between 5 000 and 4 550 000 of microplastic particles were released per kg of washed textile. If a worst-case scenario was assumed, between 15 000 and 5 375 000 microplastic particles were released per kg of washed textile.

Re: AI-powered laundry-folding robot company has filed for bankruptcy

#72

Post by yitchelle »

tqkxzugoaupvwqr wrote: post #70
misterman0 wrote: post #38

I sometimes hold off washing my clothes for so long I end up wearing the same underwear two days in a row, then no underwear and very dirty socks, then no socks before I realize it's time to wind up the old washing machine. That's how much I hate washing. I wear every piece of clothing I have and at the end of a two month long washiless period I go to work looking a fool. And then after gaving washed my clothes I now…

Buy the same socks in batches. If they are all the same color/shade you won’t need to spend time matching socks. Dump them into a drawer, and every time you need two socks, you grab two, done. You could also extend the not-washing period if you buy more clothes. The more you have, the longer until you run out of clothes to wear.

Wouldn't that just make your washing time much longer as you have a larger load to deal with? I have that problem where my two kids just brings their clothes out of their rooms in one instance. Takes forever to finish washing them.

Re: AI-powered laundry-folding robot company has filed for bankruptcy

#73

Post by AstralStorm »

yitchelle wrote: post #72
tqkxzugoaupvwqr wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buy the same socks in batches. If they are all the same color/shade you won’t need to spend time matching socks. Dump them into a drawer, and every time you need two socks, you grab two, done. You could also extend the not-washing period if you buy more clothes. The more you have, the longer until you run out of clothes to wear.

Wouldn't that just make your washing time much longer as you have a larger load to deal with? I have that problem where my two kids just brings their clothes out of their rooms in one instance. Takes forever to finish washing them.

Batching actually helps as long as you can fit things in the machine and on the clothesline or in dryer.

Not to mention being more power and water efficient.

Re: AI-powered laundry-folding robot company has filed for bankruptcy

#74

Post by AstralStorm »

DanBC wrote: post #67
misterman0 wrote: post #38

I sometimes hold off washing my clothes for so long I end up wearing the same underwear two days in a row, then no underwear and very dirty socks, then no socks before I realize it's time to wind up the old washing machine. That's how much I hate washing. I wear every piece of clothing I have and at the end of a two month long washiless period I go to work looking a fool. And then after gaving washed my clothes I now…

I don't know about where you live, but in the UK we have launderettes that do service washes. You dump your clothes in bags, and dump those bags at the launderette and pay for them to wash and dry and fold your clothing. You can pay extra for ironing. You can provide your own detergents and softeners[1] or they can use theirs. You have to be careful because some of them are a bit clumsy and will boil the clothing, or…

Contrary to the name, softeners do not soften the fabric but water and add more ionic detergent plus some smell. You get a bit more efficient washing as long as you reduce amount of washing medium.

Oh, and they do impart negative charge to the fabrics making them seem fluffier.

Some softeners do have protective oil or silicone or polysorbate that will coat the fabric protecting it more. (Similar mechanism to hair rinse.) This actually will protect the fabric from some wear. These chemicals cannot really be added to washing detergent as it would counter its action.

Certain silly people say the thin coat will interfere with future washing. I recommend testing instead of silly assumptions. (The layer is nonstick and waterproof which means your clothes will get less dirty and it is easier to remove anything on them... So you can use less detergent, time, force and water later. C.f. impregnated vs nonimpregnated wool.)

Re: AI-powered laundry-folding robot company has filed for bankruptcy

#75

Post by krageon »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #21
peter303 wrote: post #16

You have to admit the washing machine is one of wonders of the modern world, yet taken for granted. Until they were invented, a wife or servant essentially devoted most of a whole weekday to washing clothes. A washing machine and dryer cuts this to a couple hours a week. Clever people seek to cut this time even further.

> A washing machine and dryer cuts this to a couple hours a week. Maybe if you're doing a single person's laundry. Our family laundry is a job for more than a couple of hours.

I do the laundry for two people and it takes me about an hour per week (including folding). Truthfully, it heavily depends on whether or not your family tends to throw everything in the wash immediately after they wear it or not. Even wearing a t-shirt for two days instead of one will make a huge difference in wash load (perhaps a bit obvious, but still).

Re: AI-powered laundry-folding robot company has filed for bankruptcy

#76

Post by fifnir »

tqkxzugoaupvwqr wrote: post #70
misterman0 wrote: post #38

I sometimes hold off washing my clothes for so long I end up wearing the same underwear two days in a row, then no underwear and very dirty socks, then no socks before I realize it's time to wind up the old washing machine. That's how much I hate washing. I wear every piece of clothing I have and at the end of a two month long washiless period I go to work looking a fool. And then after gaving washed my clothes I now…

Buy the same socks in batches. If they are all the same color/shade you won’t need to spend time matching socks. Dump them into a drawer, and every time you need two socks, you grab two, done. You could also extend the not-washing period if you buy more clothes. The more you have, the longer until you run out of clothes to wear.

I thought i was doing this by only getting black socks. Now I have a drawer full of very subtly different black socks

Re: AI-powered laundry-folding robot company has filed for bankruptcy

#77

Post by krageon »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #49
jetrink wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People don't comment on it out of politeness, but they do notice. Then, consciously and unconsciously, they draw negative inferences about you. They might suspect that you are not well organized or that you are lazy. You are free to be unbothered by that fact, but their reaction to your appearance is outside your control. It is a slight headwind in your life that makes your interactions with people more difficult tha…

Surround yourself with better, less shallow people.

If you actually try surrounding yourself with only people that will not see this, I think you will come out disappointed at the size of your social circle. Not to mention that you usually don't get to pick the people you work with. Lots of things in your life touch upon the lives of people that you can't select for. That means it will be inconvenient at some point when you look bad.

Re: AI-powered laundry-folding robot company has filed for bankruptcy

#78

Post by grey-area »

DanBC wrote: post #64
peter303 wrote: post #16

You have to admit the washing machine is one of wonders of the modern world, yet taken for granted. Until they were invented, a wife or servant essentially devoted most of a whole weekday to washing clothes. A washing machine and dryer cuts this to a couple hours a week. Clever people seek to cut this time even further.

But it turns out that washing machines didn't do much to save time. In the past people just didn't wash their clothes as often. Now people will wash their clothes after a single wear, and it's still mostly women who are doing the washing in families. https://twitter.com/TimHarford/status/1113123861602713600 https://twitter.com/DeconinckKoen/status/1054097445351776256

Don’t do that then.

Re: AI-powered laundry-folding robot company has filed for bankruptcy

#79

Post by sgt101 »

scandox wrote: post #54
dallen33 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do the laundry in our home of 4 people, and not counting the time spent in the washing/drying machine, I probably spend (at most) an hour a week folding.

Yes but this is an argument about the whole job. Washing, drying, folding and ironing. It's basically the worst thing in the universe. I can be philosophical about death...but not about laundry. In my Utopia everyone wears a kind of biodegradeable body wrap...and slippers.

Ah Ah! Solution --> stop ironing!

Get "no iron" clothes. Avoid tumble drying sheets and duvet covers (if you can) but don't dry them to crispy dry if you can't do that - instead let them be just dry and then fold them. Ignore wrinkles.

Re: AI-powered laundry-folding robot company has filed for bankruptcy

#80

Post by ccozan »

fifnir wrote: post #76
tqkxzugoaupvwqr wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buy the same socks in batches. If they are all the same color/shade you won’t need to spend time matching socks. Dump them into a drawer, and every time you need two socks, you grab two, done. You could also extend the not-washing period if you buy more clothes. The more you have, the longer until you run out of clothes to wear.

I thought i was doing this by only getting black socks. Now I have a drawer full of very subtly different black socks

Ha, same happened to me too! I have 3 or 4 batches of black socks. In the beginning, very easy, pick two, dress, get out.

A few time ago I realized, due to different materials or black ink, they degrade in different ways, so I have a few shades of black to choose from.

But still don't care :).

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