The Robots That Fold Laundry Are Coming

choi

Allen Salkin, Take a Load off. The Robots That Fold Laundry Are Coming. The Laundroid and FoldiMate complete a hated chore, slowly.. New York Times, May 25, 2017 (under the heading "Entrepreneurship").
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/ ... aundry-machine.html

Note:
(a) "At least two companies are promising to bring laundry-folding robots for the home to market by the end of 2017. * * * Laundroid is slightly smaller than a typical refrigerator and looks like the monolith from '2001: A Space Odyssey,' except with drawers. The robot arms are inside.  The FoldiMate, more compact, has large clips dangling outside, making it look like a mash-up of a clothesline and a plastic oven."

2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(film)
(1968; discovery of a mysterious black monolith)
(b) "There’s the iBasket, a laundry hamper that automatically washes clothes when full; EcoWasher, promising 'detergent-free laundry;' and DashLocker, an app-based urban laundry service" where a driver comes pick up dirty laundry,; after being washed off-site, the driver returns it to your concierge.
iBasket - Guopeng Liang. undated.
http://guopengliang.com/portfolio/ibasket/

电子洗衣篮 was designed by 梁国鹏 that won a 2008 contest held by Electrolux and has been sold by Electrolux.

(c) "most people would rather watch a video of Marie KONDŌ 近藤 麻理恵, author of the book 'The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up,' folding a T-shirt so well it stands on its own than to actually do it with their own hands."
(i) Marie Kondo: Basic Folding Method. YouTube.com, published by "Ebury Reads" on Feb 19, 2016 (length 2:57).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpc5_1896ro

"Stands" because she stores in drawers clothing that stands (rather than lies flat).
(ii)
(A) 人生がときめく片づけの魔法. Sunmark Publishing (2010)

Japanese-English dictionary:
* tokimeku 時めく 【ときめく】 (v): "to prosper; to flourish"  ("人生がときめく" is a clause -- with 人生 as the subject of the sentence -- that modifies the noun 魔法.)
* katazukeru 片付ける(P); 片づける 【かたづける】 (v): "(1) to tidy up; to put in order; to straighten up; to put away; (2) to settle (problem); to clear (dispute); (3) to finish; to bring something to an end; (4) (sometimes 嫁ける) to marry off (e.g. a daughter); (5) to do away with someone; to bump someone off [ie, to kill someone]"
   ^ The "katazuke" is the corresponding noun.
(B) The Japanese original was translated into English:

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up; The Japanese art of decluttering and organizing. New York: Ten Speed Press (2011 and 2014)

(d) "Neither Laundroid * * * nor FoldiMate, being developed in Israel by an American company, can express existential ennui as Rosey the Jetsons' robot did * * * Gal Rozov, an inventor of FoldiMate, said his machine was faster. It requires users to clip each article of clothing to its front, making recognition simpler. The machine then pulls each into itself and folds."
(i) ennui (n; Did You Know?)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ennui
(ii) Search images.google.com with (Rosey robot).
(iii) FoldiMate
https://www.foldimate.com/

choi

(e) All about the Japanese inventor.

"Shin Sakane, Laundroid's inventor * * *  Guy Hayazaki [no Japanese name], a Laundroid spokesman * * * Mr Sakane received a PhD in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of Delaware in 2000 and returned to his native Japan to work for his father's company, Industrial Summit Technology [株式会社 IST or 株式会社アイ．エス．テイ (whose katakana simply represents I, S and T) ], which is known for selling a component that improves the efficiency of laser printers. * * * He formed his own company, Seven Dreamers [full name in English: seven dreamers laboratories, inc; Japanese: seven dreamers laboratories 株式会社; based in Tokyo] , which already has two inventions on the market: One, called Nastent, is a tube that slides up the nose to stop snoring (not yet for sale in the United States); the other is a carbon-fiber golf shaft that is meant to decrease drag. * * * Japanese homebuilder Daiwa [also invested in Sakane's company] * * * Mr Sakane said he was casting about for a business idea more than a decade ago when he asked his wife [a question]"
(i) Shin SAKANE  阪根 信一
(A) The "kon" and "ne" are, respectively Chinese and Japanese pronunciations of kanji 根.
(B) The Chinese pronunciation of 信 is "shin."  (The corresponding pronunciation for 一 is missing. This happens.)
(ii) University of Delaware (1743- ; public; main campus is in Newark (Delaware: capital Diver; most populous city Wilmington (south of Philadelphia) )
(iii) I go to company website of Seven Dreamers, which supplies no useful information about Laundroid or a demonstration video.
(iv) Daiwa House Industry Co, Ltd 大和ハウス工業株式会社 (where ハウス is pronounced "ha-u-su"): 1955- ; based in Osaka; "is Japan's largest homebuilder, specializing in prefabricated houses)  en.wikipedia.org
(v)
(A) cast about (or around or round): "search far and wide (physically or mentally)"
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/cast_about_(or_around_or_round)
(B) cast about (vi): "to look around <cast about for a seat>"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cast%20about