27 May 2004 21:19 GMT / By Stuart Miles
The chore of doing the ironing might become a thing of the past if the chaps over at Siemens have their way. The answer to our hours of boredom stuck in front of the ironing board is the Dressman robot.While even the most experienced ironers take about eight minutes to iron a shirt, the Dressman robot promises to do it in seconds- well as long as it takes to button up the shirt and smooth out the wrinkles.
To iron your shirt you simply pull over the mannequin a freshly washed shirt. Once done the device which is 5ft 8in high then fills with fresh air. This inflates its skin, made from balloon silk and presses against the shirt to shape it.
A typical cotton shirt can take up to seven or eight minutes to dry and press. At the end of the process cold air is blown through the fabric to prolong its pressed look and make sure you're not about to put on something that will toast you within seconds. As the shirt is never in contact with anything hot - only the hot air balloon silk there is no fear of the Dressman singeing your shirts.
Available in the UK by the end of the year it should cost around £900. Gadgets, Kitchen gadgets, Siemens, CeBIT2004
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