An innovation from Luna that could make the washer, the dryer, and the Laundromat obsolete

Right now it is just a design concept, but the

, created by Juan Camilo Restrepo Villamizar for 2014’s Electrolux Design Challenge may be just the

that makes the washer, the dryer, and the laundromat obsolete.

The Luna Wash is envisioned as a sphere that one fills with water and then drops into a clothes hamper or laundry basket. It will wash and dry the clothes in three stages

1. First it burrows about the clothes, steaming them in order to cause the fibers to relax and shake loose the dirt.
2. Next it uses an electrostatic charge to grab the loosened dirt and suck it into itself.
3. Then it blows hot air to dry the clothes.

The Luna Wash does not sort or fold the clothes. That will still take an actual human being to do.

If the device became an actual item that one can buy, its creative disruption could not be underestimated. Bulky washers and driers would become a thing of the past. Why would one need them if one’s clothes hamper becomes the washer and dryer with the addition of the Luna Wash.

Laundromats would eventually become rarity. They exist to serve people of modest means and/or modest space such as apartment dwellers. But given the potential popularity and adoption, Luna Wash would eventually become cheaper (adoption drives down price) than a washer/dryer and suitable for apartments that ordinarily would not have washing and dryer connections.

The same would apply to college dorms. The ritual of the college student coming home over the weekends so that mom can wash and dry his or her clothes would become history as well. A Luna Wash in a dorm would become as common as the mini fridge.