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The larger goal of this project was to provide a friendly robotic aid to help out with household chores. While the project likely would not have major economic or political impacts if implemented on a widespread basis, an optimized version of this robot could have important social ramifications. At its most fundamental level, our robot could help significantly reduce time spent on chores and thus reduce stress levels for the average everyday consumer. In that sense, a clothes folding robot would have a similar cultural impact as a washing machine, opening opportunities and allowing more time for leisurely or work activities outside of homemaking. However, for folks who require significant living assistance, such as the elderly, physically disabled, those with arthritis, or those in physical therapy, a robot that could do as simple a chore as folding clothes could be a life-changer and greatly improve quality of life.

A robot like this would not have the same debates surrounding it as automation taking place in factories. It does not significantly infringe on jobs and instead helps people worry less about taking care of their home. It would, however, increase the average environmental footprint. Instead of accomplishing the task by hand, a robot would consume a significant amount of power. This means that in order for our robot to function practically, we would need to make significant optimizations and modifications before it could be implemented on a wider scale.

The largest impact of studies related to this would be in the field of HRI research, or human-robot interaction, an emerging area of study. HRI looks into how humans and robots communicate and work together, which would have to happen if the person wants the robot to fold their clothes. People work with their machines in different ways, and studying this would be fruitful in terms of designing the system in the most friendly way.