A team of mechanical engineers at King’s College London is developing the world’s first automatic ironing machine. The compact machine will be able to fold as well as iron clothes. With funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Swindon, UK), Jian Dai and his colleagues plan to create a prototype within 4 years.
Dai says the complex and unpredictable nature of ironing will be challenging to automate. Among other tasks, the device will have to avoid the common pitfall of burning a hole in clothing.