The Robot That Learned to Fold Laundry

Laundry exposes a stubborn weakness in robotics: every shirt collapses into a different shape. A new system learns to identify corners, sleeves, and layers, then revises its plan when the fabric moves unexpectedly. Cameras estimate the garment’s hidden structure. The model predicts what a grasp will reveal, performs the move, and looks again. The prototype remains too slow and expensive for most homes, but its ability to notice uncertainty and recover could transfer to many ordinary household tasks.