Commercial Laundry Handling Robot

 PUREX Co., a company in Japan that makes automation machinery for the linen supply industry, has developed a laundry handling robotic system that they aim to commercialize by 2013. In the real world, most of the linen handling has already been automated but the company is trying to robotize the one process that still need human hands. That is, picking up the clean linen one by one and placing it on the machine that smooths them out. 

 One arm picks up a piece of towel from the pile and lays it on a conveyor belt to make it easier to detect and grab the corner of the towel. The towel is handed and slided over to another arm that holds the edges and places it correctly on the finishing machine.

 PUREX's parent company is TOKAI, a linen supply service provider, so they will have no problem looking for a customer. Right now the system can only handle one type of linen at a time, but the goal is to become able to handle different things - from towels to sheets to gowns - all at once.  

 Via Robonable