Cabe Atwell in the Element 14 Community has written up a fun Raspberry Pi project to “retrofit an old washer or dryer to alert you via text message when the clothes are done.” via Element 14
With the IOT market hot right now, many appliances have applications in this realm. Recently we have seen internet connected cooking appliances and refrigerators. Of all the appliances in a house, the one that has remained mostly the same in its process is the washer and dryer. Most people dread using these machines because like baking, you have to wait and tend to the process when needed. With a washer, if you leave your clothes in there for too long without transferring all the clothes to the dryer, you risk having your clothes start to smell like mold or dry out, in which you have to rewash them. If you leave your clothes in the dryer for too long, they will wrinkle. In which you have to send them for another heated spin. Ideally, the clothes get transferred to the dryer as soon as the washer is done and the clothes are taken out of the dryer and folded or hung as soon as the dryer is done. People are either too busy or don’t hear the buzzer when it’s done.
These days, people are better at responding to their phone than when the dryer or washer is done. At this point, most washer and dryers only have the capability to remind you using a buzzer or chime which is short and sweet. Easy to forget or not hear at all. To make it life easier, why can’t that buzzer or chime reminder be a text message, something we are all now are very good at responding to.