From folding your laundry to cleaning toilets, these five robots will do your dirty work for you.
By Adi Pick, Calcalist
You come home from a long day at the office only to find all the messes you left there in the morning still waiting for you to tidy up. Instead of having a coffee or snuggling on the sofa with Netflix on, you find yourself rolling up your sleeves and tending to your well-neglected cave.
In these moments, don’t you wish you had some kind of magical device that could take care of at least some of that work? The good news is that robots are here to the rescue. The bad news, however, is that they may set you back significantly more than the average cleaning service. From folding your laundry to cleaning toilets, below are five Israeli companies developing robots that will do your dirty work for you.
Robomow
Year founded: 1995
Funding to date: $7 million, according to Pitchbook data
Founder: Udi Peless, Shai Abramson
Robomow, incorporated as Friendly Robotics Ltd., acquired by Ohio-headquartered lawn products company MTD Products Inc. in 2017 for an undisclosed amount, develops a robotic lawnmower. Users can schedule lawn mowings by Robomow’s robot through Alexa or a dedicated mobile and web app. The robot’s rechargeable battery delivers a running time of up to three hours covering an area of up to 500 square meters between charges, according to company statements.
Skyline Robotics
Year founded: 2017
Funding to date: $3 million, according to Pitchbook data
Founder: Yaron Schwarcz, Avi Abadi
While not aimed at the home market, Tel Aviv-based Skyline Robotics Ltd. develops technology that takes care of one of the most hated chores of all, window cleaning. Skyline’s technology enables upgrading existing machinery in skyscrapers like cranes and lifts into window-cleaning robots. The technology can be adapted in the future for a wide range of applications, including gutter cleaning and ice removal, according to company statements.
Temi
Year founded: 2016
Funding to date: $83 million, according to Pitchbook data
Founder: Yossi Wolf
New York-headquartered robot company Temi Global Ltd. develops a personal voice-activated robotic personal assistant on wheels. While not technically completing chores, Temi is capable of following its owners from room to room as they do so, carrying small objects, playing music, keeping kids occupied, placing video and voice calls, and controlling smart-home devices. The company, formerly known as Roboteam Home USA Inc., was spun off of Israeli defense contractor Robo-Team Ltd. (Roboteam), which develops ground robotic systems for law enforcement and military uses, such as handling of suspicious objects and dangerous materials and intelligence collection.
Foldimate
Year founded: 2012
Funding to date: $3.1 million, according to Pitchbook data
Founder: Gal Rozov
California-headquartered FoldiMate Inc. develops a standard washing machine-sized robot that folds laundry. Users manually feed each item into the FoldiMate machine and watch as it neatly folds shirts, blouses, pants and medium-sized towels. However, the machine is unable to process small items such as baby clothes or very large items such as large bedding. The robot can fold up to 25 items in 5 minutes, according to company statements.
Toibot
Year founded: 2014
Funding to date: bootstrapped
Founder: Daniel Tokarev, David Alush
Haifa-based Toibot Ltd. develops a motorized robot that will autonomously clean your toilet. The company’s toilet cleaning robot is hidden inside the toilet bowl, and includes an elastic robotic arm with a rotating brush that cleans the toilet bowl at the push of a button. The brush moves along the toilet brim on both up and down axis.