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A robot capable of doing laundry sadly won鈥檛 be available for the public to buy, as it is only intended to help appliance manufacturers test their washing machines.

at the University of Bologna, Italy, and his colleagues have developed 鈥渁 complete robotic laundry operation鈥� in partnership with Electrolux, a Swedish firm that is one of the world鈥檚 largest appliance makers.

The robotic system, which uses pre-existing commercial robots, is able to detect dirty clothes, pick them up and load them into a washing machine, interpret the machine鈥檚 display and choose the correct wash cycle. It can retrieve the garments once they are clean.

Soft, deformable objects like clothes are difficult for robots to grasp, so the team equipped the system with a 3D camera and used a perception algorithm that represents such items as a collection of small dots, or points, in space. This helps the robot spot wrinkles it can grab, allowing it to easily pick up clothes from a hard surface like a floor.

The team used a second algorithm, which treats the clothes as a single mass, to detect anything partially hanging out of the washing machine. The robot then tries to grasp this mass 鈥渂y pushing in the middle [of it] and closing [its] hand鈥�, says Palli, exactly how human hands would do the job.

Finally, a deep-learning algorithm allows the robot to examine and interpret the washing machine鈥檚 controls, then select the right wash function.

Electrolux is already using a prototype of the system at one of its factories in Italy, Palli says, to test new products with minimal human interaction. The researchers also plan to develop robotic solutions for testing other appliances, like dishwashers.