As with many tasks, robots may soon be ironing our clothes for us before we leave for work. Built by a team from the University Carlos III de Madrid’s robotics lab in Getafe, Spain, TEO is a highly articulated robot, that can climb stairs, open doors, and has recently added ironing to its skill set.
Data from a depth-sensing camera in TEO’s head is combed over by an algorithm, breaking it down into thousands of points — 0 being smooth and 1 a defined line in the clothing. Comparing those point values to those of its neighbours allows TEO to identify wrinkles without any preexisting notion of what a freshly-pressed garment looks like.
Once the offending wrinkles have been identified, the information is passed to TEO’s other processes and get the job done. It doesn’t yet know how to differentiate between a wrinkle and other features like a zipper, and it takes a while to complete it’s chore — both of which can be a hazard when ironing — but that’s only a matter of time.
Folding said laundry however, is a bit further away, so it may be easier to enlist the help of the internet of things to help with the chore in the meantime.
[Thanks for the tip, Itay!]
Robots may soon take over our planet. Watch out.
…Yay? \o/
I didn’t see any evidence that the thing can actually put the clothes on the ironing board or take them off again, in which case it is totally useless.
Just another job an American won’t do..
Spaniard. Just another job a Spaniard won’t do.
Does anyone consider it ironic that they built a robot that irons clothes but doesn’t wear them?
No, that’s neat! It won’t waste time ironing its own clothes, just yours!
It’s great to see that Hackaday continues to cover the pressing matters of the day.
ho ho, creasing myself….
+1 !
They should’ve done it on some RPi’s and Tarduinos and Benchoff could’ve written the adticle for them.
When it can cook and do the washing without 12 pc’s controlling various parts, Invest in a Fleshlight the perfect women almost.
TEO will be much cheaper when illegally imported.