There’s a new tech company claiming to have found the solution for one of mankind’s most mundane chores, and CNET’s ground team got to see the products in action at CES 2025.
Tenet’s AI Laundry Robots are hoping to be a new and more efficient way to wash and dry your clothes. During the huge tech show here in Las Vegas, Tenet, which has teamed up with TCL Global, unveiled two separate prototypes that have the same goal: to make your life easier.
The smaller of the two is shaped like an egg and features a mechanical arm that hang-dries your clothes inside of the machine. My first impression was that it looks quite small, so regardless of how efficiently it works, it may not get the full job done quickly.
But there’s another feature that could be groundbreaking if it works: The company says it can fold the laundry, too. We haven’t seen that in action yet, so we can’t speak to its efficacy. (Though we’ll note that laundry-folding robots have made big splashes at CES in the past and come to nothing.)
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It also remains unclear how many pieces of clothing it can hold and dry at once, but if it is in fact a three-in-one machine that can wash, dry and fold on its own, it could revolutionize the world of laundry.
There was also a separate front-loading washing machine, referred to by the company as the AI-powered garment recognition model, seems quite promising. By using cameras and light sensors inside of the machine, Tenet says it will learn the best way to wash your clothes so they continue to look great and are also clean as possible. Then, when the washing is done, it will dry your clothes, too. (We’ll note that combined washer-dryers have been around for years and have never been very good at the drying part.)
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Is this the key to cleaner and smarter laundry?
The AI-powered garment recognition model — which seems to be able to hold much more laundry than the egg-shaped AI Laundry Robot — uses artificial intelligence to determine the best way to wash your clothes. The washer can detect exactly what type of clothing you placed in the machine and how many pieces within seconds of shutting the door.
If you place a dark-colored piece of clothing in a load of white clothing, the smart screen on the washer will quickly give you a caution warning that the color may bleed. After the warning, you have two options. You can either remove the dark piece of clothing from the load or leave it and let the washer choose which cycle is best for preventing the color bleeding during the cycle. After the cycle, it is said to dry the clothes too so there would be no need to worry about throwing the laundry into a separate machine.
The second Tenet prototype was much larger than the first.
During a demonstration at CES 2025, our on-the-ground team saw the washer in action and was seemingly impressed with how it quickly and accurately identified the clothing placed in the machine. When the cycle began, a stain index and timeline also appears that shows where the machine is at in the cycle, and it will adjust the amount of detergent and water used during the cycle based on what the clothes need.
Plus, like numerous other home products unveiled at CES 2025 (and ones already on the market), the device can connect to an app that will alert you when the laundry is done.
Tenet’s booth at CES displayed how the robot’s mechanical arm can hang dry your clothing.
When will these be available for purchase?
Tenet’s AI Laundry is expected to launch in the US by the end of 2025, but no pricing has yet been revealed.
On Tenet’s booth at CES 2025, a sentence that resembles a mission statement is displayed that may just predict our future if this technology proves successful. It reads:
“By integrating human-like perception, decision-making, and execution into our AI Laundry Robot, we aim to free up individuals from repetitive household chores, allowing them to focus on more creative and fulfilling aspects of life.”