Just when you thought technology couldn’t creep any more into every pore of your life, someone invents a smart laundry basket. Specifically, Sydney, Australia-based IoT startup Take Off has developed LaunderPal, a smart home laundry basket that recognizes your clothes by RFID tags and sends useful information to your smartphone app.
LaunderPal features
According to its creators, LaunderPal helps you manage your laundry through a set of components which work separately or together. These components include a smart laundry basket, a LaunderPal app, washable RFID tags, and a back-end server for extended services.
All these components work together to help you always have clean clothes available. To be more exact, they tell you which clothes are inside the basket and which are not. Additionally, the system helps protect your clothes from stretching, shrinking, color fading, dye bleeding, etc. It does this by recommending the proper washing program for each clothing item according to its care label.
The basket itself has a built-in RFID reader which identifies clothes by their RFID tags as you throw them in. The LaunderPal app receives the data, and you can check on your phone which clothes are inside the basket. Plus, every family member can have their own profile to manage their clothes.
The RFID tags are washable, ironable, and hypoallergenic. Don’t worry about them coming off. They won’t. According to the people behind the LaunderPad, the tags easily stick to clothes and won’t come off during washing and ironing. There are 20 RFID tags in the package, but you can order 20 more at the price of US$10.
The back-end LaunderPal server offers additional services such as suggesting new collections of famous brands or specific accessories that match your style, and many more.
Is LaunderPal worth it?
In conclusion, LaunderPal is a practical little addition to your household which you can probably live without, especially given its price of AU$150 (about US$111).
On the other hand, it makes your household chores a bit easier. You don’t have to rummage through the content of your laundry basket which, let’s face it, can be unpleasant.
Another thing is that it keeps information on the recommended washing regimen for your clothing, so you don’t have to check the care labels every time you put them in the washing machine. Moreover, the style suggestions on the basis of your own clothing collection do sound enticing.
If the project reaches its goal on Kickstarter, its manufacturing will begin in October 2018. Like always, when dealing with crowdfunding campaigns, make sure to check on everything first, before you spend your money.
YouTube: LaunderPal on Take Off channel
Photo credit: All images are owned by Take Off.
