T#Robots join the laundry room and start working to earn money! Former Apple AI Executive Builds
September 14, 2025 13:03 * * Shanghai
The first workplace for robots to make money by folding clothes is the laundry room.
The practitioner is Isaacs from Weave Robotics, specifically designed for household chores, and is currently employed in the paid laundry room Tumble Laundry.
It is worth mentioning that Weave Robotic was founded by the former Apple team and completed three rounds of financing before the product was officially unveiled.
Although many robots are learning to fold clothes now, most of them are still demonstrating their skills at exhibition booths, and Isaacs has reached the next level, being the first universal robot capable of folding paid clothes.
So what is the workflow of robots?
##Not only can it fold clothes, but it can also store them
Firstly, the laundry room is responsible for taking on customers’ laundry needs, completing tasks such as washing and drying clothes. Next, it falls within Isaacs’ scope of work. They are responsible for the most labor-intensive folding process and have certain requirements for regularity.
From the details of Isaacs’ own capabilities, its folding service is not a crude operation. Weave Robotics has clear standards for folding qualified clothing: the folded clothing needs to be kept clean.
Taking shirts as an example, it is necessary to achieve uniform pattern, no messy edges and corners, and consistent stacking direction. For styles with collars, the collar should be facing upwards.
After folding clothes, they also organize them to keep the workbench tidy.
Being able to meet these job standards, Isaacs is one step ahead as a garment stack worker and has priority on the job!
Technically speaking, the stable operation of Isaacs relies on the triple technical support of Weave Robotics:
+Firstly, it is equipped with a team trained Visual Language Action (VLA) model that can accurately recognize clothing types and determine folding edge positions, providing a visual and decision-making brain for precise folding;
+Secondly, the team has built a high-performance network stack for it. When Isaacs encounters complex situations (such as special clothing materials or disorderly placement), human operators can intervene through remote assistance to ensure the smooth completion of the task. Currently, its early prototype has achieved 70% end-to-end autonomous folding, and manual assistance is only activated when necessary;
+Finally, a comprehensive data pipeline enables Isaacs to have the ability for continuous learning. The relevant data from each folding task is used to train a new generation of VLA models, making them more efficient and accurate in handling different materials and styles of clothing.
Now Isaacs is collecting data in the laundry room, and after training, the robustness of this model will be further improved.
In addition, Isaacs’ positioning is not a single function folding robot, but a universal household robot.
In addition to the current implementation of clothing folding, it also plans to expand its household chores capabilities such as organizing miscellaneous items and home security in the future to meet the diverse needs of home scenes.
The team also incorporated details into the design: when Isaacs is idle, its camera will automatically fold and close, and the torso will also be lowered for storage, maximizing the protection of user privacy.
The transition of Isaacs from technological research and development to commercial implementation is inseparable from the industry accumulation of the two core founders of Weave Robotics.
##Former Apple tech executive launches robot project
Weave Robotics was co founded by Evan Winelan and Kaan Dogrusoz, both of whom have experience working at Apple.
CEO Evan Winelan graduated from Carnegie Mellon University and previously served as Apple’s Chief AI Product Manager, leading Apple’s AI projects and updating Siri.
CTO Kaan Dogrusoz is also a Carnegie Mellon University alumnus who served as Apple’s research director and was involved in the development of products such as the Apple Watch and iPhone.
After Isaacs took up his post, Kaan stated:
It has been over a year since we founded Weave. We have been thinking about two things in our hearts:
- Design robots that can be seen at home for everyone.
- Build robots that can truly complete tasks quickly.
*Reference link:
[1] https://x.com/weaverobotics/status/1966554865792147501
[2] https://www.weaverobotics.com/discover/laundry-folding *