The folding apocalypse is already in your laundry basket

In the centuries-old war of mankind with the element of crumpled laundry, it seems that a turning point is coming. While you were putting off the hated ironing for later, and the stack of T-shirts in the basket was growing to alarming proportions, engineers on the other side of the ocean were preparing the surrender of this domestic front. We are not talking about another miracle hanger, but about a full-fledged robotic invasion into the very heart of our everyday life.

Research in the field of manipulation of soft objects, which for a long time remained a tough nut for artificial intelligence, has finally borne fruit. Robots learn to handle fabric, a material that is treacherous, unpredictable, and malleable, which, oddly enough, makes it more difficult for an algorithm than a chessboard or an assembly line.

Computer Vision and Tentacles: Why Your T—shirt is a Challenge for AI

Why is the seemingly simple task of taking and carefully folding a T—shirt one of the most difficult problems in robotics? The answer lies in the very nature of the fabric. It is formless, its geometry changes instantly, and precise manipulation requires not force, but a delicate sense of touch and foresight of the material's behavior.

Modern developments use a combination of powerful computer vision algorithms that create a 3D model of a random piece of fabric in real time, and manipulators equipped with tactile sensors. The robot literally "feels" the fabric to figure out where its corner is and where its neck is. It's more difficult than finding a way out of a maze, because at least the maze doesn't fold in half when the wind blows.

"Manipulation of soft objects is the Holy Grail of robotics," one of the engineers ironically remarks. "We can land a rover on Mars, but we can't get a robot to fold a towel neatly. This says a lot about our priorities and the treachery of plain cotton."

The Economy of boredom: or why a robot will fold your laundry better than you

Why invest millions in solving such a seemingly mundane problem? The answer lies not only in the sphere of home comfort. Imagine large logistics centers where you have to process clothing returns, or giant laundries in hotels and hospitals. In these places, people perform monotonous, low-paying, and physically exhausting jobs. Staff turnover is through the roof, efficiency leaves much to be desired.
 

A robot that can work 24/7 and does not suffer from burnout syndrome at the sight of one tenth of a thousand pillowcases per shift is not a whim, but a harsh economic necessity. This is a solution to the problem of "dirty work" in the literal and figurative sense. Automation is coming to a place where the human spirit has long been broken by routine.

Employment for machines with a lingerie fetish

As these specialized robots leave the labs and prepare to enter the market, the question of their integration arises. Who needs them most: a large hotel chain, a logistics company, or perhaps a clothing manufacturer? A specialized platform can help them with this. jobtorob.com which acts as a link between unique machines with highly specialized skills such as sorting and folding textiles, and businesses that are ready to transfer these boring but necessary functions into reliable manipulators. This is the next logical step in the evolution of automation — creating a labor market for non-human employees.

A future where you have 15 minutes a day free for new problems.

What awaits us? In the not too distant future, your smart home will include not only a coffee maker, but also a cloakroom robot. Clothes discarded after a shower will not be sent to the trash, but will be scanned, sorted and neatly stacked on shelves by mechanical hands. This will free up a lot of time for you, dear Homo Sapiens. Time that you will certainly spend usefully, for example, scrolling through your social media feed or watching a new TV series.

And this has its own, somewhat bitter, irony. Humanity, which has been striving for centuries to free itself from physical labor, is finally getting its way. We create the perfect servants who will take over the entire routine. We can only hope that we will find something to replace the void that has formed. Or the future will present us with a new, even more sophisticated kind of boredom — existential longing in a world where you don't even need to fold laundry.