How to Build a Simple Arduino-Based Robot That Folds Your Laundry and Learns Your Clothing Preferences

Introduction

Building a robot that can fold laundry and learn clothing preferences may seem daunting, but it's quite achievable with some basic hardware, software knowledge, and persistence. In this guide, I'll walk you through the key steps I took to create my own laundry-folding robot using Arduino.

Selecting the Right Hardware

The first step is choosing the right electronic components to power your robot. Here's what I used in my build:

• Arduino Uno - This microcontroller board serves as the robot's "brain" to receive sensor inputs and control attached hardware.

• Servo motors - I used 4 servo motors to act as the robot's "arms" and "grippers" to pick up and manipulate the clothing items.

• Ultrasonic sensor - This detects objects in front of the robot so it can avoid collisions.

• Infrared sensor - This allows the robot to detect different types of fabric as it's folding.

• Breadboard - For connecting the components.

• Jumper wires - To attach the components to the Arduino.

For the frame, I used lightweight wood and PVC pipes to construct a basic body with "arms" for the servos to attach to. The simplicity of the Arduino platform makes it easy to get the base hardware assembled even with limited robotics experience.

Coding the Laundry Folding Logic

With the hardware ready, the next major task is writing the Arduino program that will control the robot's laundry folding operations. Here are the key steps I followed:

• Initialize the servo motors and sensors in the setup function.

• Create variables to store sensor values.

• Write functions for basic movements like picking up a clothing item, rotating it, and setting it down folded.

• Use the ultrasonic sensor to detect when a piece of clothing is in front of the robot.

• Activate the infrared sensor to determine if the clothing is a shirt, pants, etc based on the infrared reflection.

• Call the appropriate folding function based on the clothing type detected.

• Repeat the process until no more clothes are detected in front of the robot.

The program logic is relatively simple, but teaching the robot to neatly fold various clothing types took a lot of trial and error. I utilized lots of print statements to help debug issues with the folding sequences.

Machine Learning for Clothing Recognition

To take the robot beyond basic clothing detection, I implemented some machine learning capabilities using the Arduino framework. This allowed the robot to learn my preferences over time.

The steps included:

• Gather data on how I fold different clothing types along with notes about my folding preferences.

• Use the data to train a K-nearest neighbors model on the robot.

• Have the robot take the clothing type detected by sensors and run it through the model to predict my preferred folding method for that item.

• Update the model when I correct or improve the robot's folding.

After two weeks of training runs, the robot had learned my folding style for shirts, pants, socks, and more. The machine learning really took the build to the next level.

Conclusion

Creating an Arduino laundry folding robot was an informative machine learning and robotics project. The key steps were:

• Assembling the frame, Arduino, and other core components.

• Coding the basic folding sequences and movements.

• Implementing machine learning to customize the folding.

There are many opportunities to enhance the build with things like a camera for improved clothing recognition. But the simple version described here can successfully fold laundry and demonstrates how achievable these kinds of Arduino robotics projects can be. Let me know if you have any other questions!