HOUSEHOLDS around the world are likely to breath a sigh of relief with the invention of a Japanese robot that will not only wash and dry clothes, but also sort them out, fold them up and put them away neatly in the cupboard.

    The world’s first laundry bot — dubbed “the laundroid” — has been created by a team of Japanese technology companies in a bid to eliminate the tedium of carrying out one of the least popular household chores.

    A public demonstration of the automated laundry robot washing a white shirt took place for the first time in Tokyo at the 2015 Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies, an international technology trade show.

    The device — created by Panasonic alongside the technical company Seven Dreamers and Daiwa, Japan’s biggest homebuilder — is able to painstakingly wash and dry clothing, before identifying each individual item and folding it up neatly.

    The laundry robot is reportedly able to tackle a range of washing items, from shirts, skirts, shorts and trousers to towels, with its makers aiming to enable customers to pre-order the device next year.

    Unveiling the robot, Panasonic said it would revolutionize people’s lives by freeing them “from the labor required in the folding and increases time with one’s family and for one’s hobbies.”

    Japan is at the forefront of robotics technology, with an increasingly number of robots appearing in daily life, from humanoid museum staff to emotion-simulating robotic companions.

    The world’s first robot hotel, staffed by an array of robotic devices, also opened its doors in Japan’s southern Nagasaki earlier this year.(SD-Agencies)