WiFi Washbaskets

The iBasket has a double life as a laundry basket and washing machine. The device starts automatically once full to clean and dry your laundry, then finally sends a message to your computer to tell you it is done.

Guopeng Liang, who designed it, has managed to get his little tub into the final nine of the Electrolux Design Lab ’08 competition. The competition spec was to design future home appliances for the 'internet generation', which might be viable in as little as 2-3 years time.

While the iBasket sounds like a fantastic idea for those of us who seem to be forever fighting mountains of laundry, at the moment, it can only hold 3-5 kg or three t-shirts and two trousers.

There is also mention of an air-refresh system to remove odors -- but where does the washing powder go? And would the machine wait for you to put it in before starting automatically?

I suspect that it is actually more of a clothes 'freshener' than a washing machine - but that still works for me and for the environment. Not all clothes need to be put through a two hour wash cycle, which is just what the iBasket offers: a quick freshening up of your clothes.

However, if Electrolux could develop the idea further, make it bigger to take more clothes, and confirm it can do a thorough wash rather than just a quick rinse, you could have one for every member of the household.

Dirty clothes need never leave the bedroom again.