Parents Have Mixed Feelings Over This New Machine That'll Fold All the Laundry for You

Wouldn’t you love to nix one thing from your to do list? And what if that one thing was all your wasted hours folding laundry?

Meet FoldiMate, a machine that folds laundry in seconds so you don’t have to. The folding robot was one of many new tech inventions showcased at Consumer Electronics Show 2019 in Las Vegas, USA Today reports.

FoldiMate boasts folding a full load of laundry in under five minutes. You simply feed the items continuously, while it simultaneously folds them. And the adjustable folding technology fits to your clothing and shelf size.

Image: Courtesy FoldiMate

Too good to be true? Well, maybe.

There are a few issues that come to mind. For starters, it doesn’t fold small items, like baby clothes and socks, or sheets and other larger items. Those are, argumentatively, the most annoying things to fold.

Another issue is the mere size of the folding monster. It’s hard enough for many to find room for a washer and dryer, let alone a machine that is equal in size to your average office printer.

And of course there is the final argument against it—the price. At an estimated $980, it’s hefty expense for such a trivial task.

Needless to say, parents are split on whether or not the machine is actually worth it, and took to the company’s Instagram to share their thoughts.

Those who are pro FoldiMate say:

• “Talk about an investment that will pay you back with more time!”
• “Guess who’s buying this!”
• “Game changer.”

But many aren’t sold:

• “This is the laziest thing I have ever seen.”
• “We are talking about a rather irrelevant task of folding shirts with a machine bigger than a washing machine. A real example of terrible design.”
• “In the time she’s standing there waiting for the robot to accept the next item, she could have gone ahead and folded those pants herself.”

FoldiMate is still in the pre-launch phase, but hopefully the company will consider some of the feedback before it hits the market later this year. For now, check out some of our favorite —and much more affordable—laundry time-savers.