Skip to main content

LG’s new washing machine doesn’t use water or detergent

LG Styler Waterless washing machineIf it looks good and smells good, then it is good. At least that’s what we’re hoping will happen with our laundry in the LG Styler, a new washing machine that promises to clean clothes without using water or detergent. The odd innovation boasts a hot air technology that will scrub the dirt of your shirts using steam and other secret magic the company has yet to reveal.

“The LG Styler is a unique product designed for both washable and dry-cleanable clothes,” said Seong-jin Jo, President and CEO of LG Electronics Home Appliance Company. “The Styler can refresh and deodorize multiple fabrics, from shirts, sweaters and ties, to suits and thick winter coats, so they stay wearable longer, limiting sometimes expensive dry-cleaning.”

Recommended Videos

The LG Styler also boasts a Moving Hanger feature that will give your clothes a gentle shake to remove wrinkles, odors, and dust. If you’re not liking the way your clothes smell, the Styler can also spray select aromatic scents to mask the musk. All this is controlled by a touch panel on the front of the door, although this next-gen design is making the Styler look just like a refrigerator. It also looks like something kids can easily find themselves crawling inside.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Newer models of washing machines all claim they consume less water — but not using water or detergent at all is news to us (although steam is technically produced with a little bit of H2O). If the technology works as promise, and LG can figure out a way to childproof the machine, the Styler could be the greenest solution to combat water waste and yearly expense on expensive detergents or dry cleaning.

There are currently no release dates or price information are available; the LG Styler was officially announced back in January during CES 2013, so hopefully we will see the complete product by next year. Meanwhile, the Wisten, LG’s air conditioner that adjusts temperature when you verbally say it’s too hot or cold, should be hitting the market soon if you want a wacky, high end appliance in your home. And lets be honest with ourselves: Who doesn’t?

Natt Garun
Former Digital Trends Contributor
An avid gadgets and Internet culture enthusiast, Natt Garun spends her days bringing you the funniest, coolest, and strangest…
This wooden smart home sensor doesn’t need batteries
Nanowerk diagram demonstrating smart wood in the home.

Researchers at the Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems have developed a means of creating a wood-based triboelectric self-powered smart home sensor. Basically, it can harness the energy you use to press a button or step on the ground to send wireless signals around the house. With this system, a layer of wood has a thin copper film applied to the underside, which makes contact with a non-stick layer beneath when pressed, and generates an electric charge. That charge can then be used to power a sensor and emit a signal.

The strength of that charge depends on the overall surface area but can be high enough to communicate your position on a floor peppered with sensors below the surface. This use case alone presents some interesting options. Smart lights could light up as soon as your footsteps are sensed in the area, or falling down could trip multiple sensors and fire an emergency alert.

Read more
Is a robot vacuum that doesn’t auto-empty even worth it?
The iRobot Roomba i7 cleaning a living room.

When we imagine the future, we like to think of a legion of loyal, smart robots that serve us at our pleasure: Piloting us around in flying cars, cleaning for us, cooking for us, and handling all the daily domestic tasks we just don’t want to do. When it comes to robot vacuums, that means the emptying of the dustbin. While plenty of robot vacuums can now take care of that dirty little chore for you, there are many more that don’t. So as we march toward that promising future, is there still a place in the smart home for robot vacuums that don't empty themselves?
A decade of innovation

Anyone who's been following vacuum technology knows the last decade has been monumental. We went from having to haul out giant, heavy corded upright vacuums to clean our floors to the development of robot vacuums like the now-iconic Roomba (the iRobot Roomba j7+ is the company's newest, smartest bot). Those early days of automated vacuuming were more novelty than necessity, however, with the rolling robots bumping around, smashing into furniture and walls, leaving marks and dropping debris.

Read more
LG Display uses exotic deuterium to make OLED TVs 30% brighter
Models stand beside a demo of LG Display's OLED EX panel.

Only days before CES 2022, LG Display, the company that manufactures the OLED panels used by Sony, LG Electronics, Vizio, and virtually every other OLED TV maker, has created a new OLED display that it calls OLED EX. The new panels incorporate deuterium into the manufacturing process, which LG Display claims can make them 30% brighter than the OLED panels used in current large-size TVs. The company plans to produce OLED EX panels at two of its OLED plants starting in the second quarter of 2022.

Deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen with twice the mass of a regular hydrogen atom, and LG Display is using deuterium compounds to improve the efficiency of its organic light-emitting diodes, which lets them emit a stronger light.

Read more