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!]
Filed under: home hacks, robots hacks
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