How about never having to iron another shirt again? A German company has invented a heated, inflatable dummy that “irons” shirts for you. “This will be a complement to the lawn mowing and vacuum cleaning robots that already exist,” says economist Jan Karlsson. Since most of us are still doing those chores ourselves, we don’t expect to have our shirts ironed automatically anytime soon.
Celeste Biever writes in New Scientist that the Dressman was invented after an international survey showed that ironing?especially ironing shirts?is the chore that most people dislike the most. “Ironing is so boring,” says Karlsson. “I really think people will use this.”
To iron a shirt, you dress the deflated dummy with the wet shirt and switch it on. Hot air is pumped into the dummy until the shirt fits tightly. Extra air is pumped through the areas that have several layers of cloth, such as cuffs and collars, so the entire shirt dries at the same time, which takes between 5 and 15 minutes, depending on the material.
The Dressman is now on sale in Germany and Spain for about $1,000. At that price, it will join the lawn mowing and vacuuming robots on most of our wish lists.
Some of us might need a really big dummy to iron our shirts, because of how much weight we’ve gained. Get inspired by Carnie Wilson, who lost over 200 pounds. She’s not smug; she struggles everyday and says, I’m still hungry.
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