Clearly, the product was too ambitious. Seven Dreamers had planned a simpler, but still potentially-impressive version that merely folded and sorted clothes. The first-gen model still required a complex combination of robotics, image analysis and artificial intelligence to achieve its goals, however. The company said the machine would recognize different types of clothing and sort them into "neat, organized piles." A companion app would also keep you posted on what had been folded and offer a quick overview of your wardrobe. Public demonstrations at CES, though, were underwhelming. As The Verge reports, a version shown in 2018 struggled with basic t-shirts that weren't part of a carefully pre-prepared basket.

Seven Dreamers had other products, including Nastent, a tube-shaped medical device that helps people breathe while they're asleep. The company also raised capital in three funding rounds between 2015 and 2017. The investments weren't enough, though, to offset the continued development costs of the Laundroid, which had been delayed many times.

The company's demise leaves the market wide open for Foldimate, a laundry-folding rival based in San Francisco. A few months back, the startup showed a working prototype -- a welcome change from its usual nonfunctional demonstrations -- at CES in Las Vegas. The final version is scheduled to ship later this year for somewhere in the $1,000 price range.