Doing laundry is a pain. Even if you own a washer-dryer it could still suck the life out of your day. Wouldn’t it be great if you could have someone or something to do it for you? One Japanese company is looking to use robots to make sure you never have to do laundry again.

Robot Ugo Does Laundry From Wash to Fold

Kawasaki, Japan based startup Mira Robotics recently unveiled Ugo which is a robot that will do laundry from wash to fold.  With Ugo, the customer doesn’t have to lift a finger. The robot is controlled remotely from a command center.

Users can rent the laundry robot and then trained operators will control him in real time. Eventually, Ugo will be completely autonomous and not need to be controlled by an offsite human.

Ugo weighs about 160 pounds and his height is adjustable from 3 and a half to six feet tall. Each arm measures 2 feet so it can grab that sock at the bottom of the machine. Ugo can work for 4 hours before needing to be recharged.

The laundry robot is equipped with an array of sensors, 3 cameras, speakers and a microphone. It can move on flat surfaces forward, backward and side to side. As of now, the robot can’t go up or down stairs but the company hopes Ugo will eventually be able to go from floor to floor. As far as connectivity, it can be controlled and monitored via Wifi or a mobile network.

credit: Japan Times

Mira Robotics Laundry Bot Still Has Ways to Go

Ugo is still in the development phase and from watching the videos it still has a long way to go. It seems doing a load of laundry would take hours as the robot still moves pretty slow. Miso plans to revamp the arms to make things move faster.

However, it’s a great concept and could prove quite valuable if the company can work out all the kinks. Countries like Japan have an aging population. In 2035, one in three Japanese will be a senior citizen. Many of these people will need assistance in doing basic tasks. Robots like Ugo could play a major part in helping them keep independence.

The company plans to conduct closed beta testing in August, and launch the service in May 2020. It also hopes the robot will go beyond laundry and perform other household chores.

Check out our article on a robot maid that makes you coffee and Amazon’s new autonomous delivery service