Every year as the snowball grows, technology seems to leap rather than walk. It is easy to take for granted this incredible pace of change as we see incremental transformations in technology that affect our lives.

We know about AI, we know about 3D printing, but what about the weirder stuff? What else is out there lurking at the fringes that you may not have heard of?

1) Automatic laundry folder

You have to love automated household machinery and this one really gives you that ‘Wallace and Gromit’ feel – an almost old timey invention for the 21st century.

The ‘Foldimate‘ is an automated clothing folder designed for one thing and one thin only – to present you crisp folded outerwear ready for the wardrobe.

Slated for a 2019 release, the rather bulky machine can fold 20-40 items of clothing in a professional manner as you feed your freshly laundered clothing through the top. So if you are sick to the back teeth from folding t shirts, I guess you should invest in this rather specific piece of machinery.

2) Breathing robot pillow

Yep. I said it.  A high tech kidney shaped pillow has hit the market which breathes and sings you lullabies. One person’s Lovecraftian nightmare is another’s sleep pal I suppose, but this one is a tad… odd.

Redefining ‘soft robotics’, the Somnox sleep robot is a futuristic cuddly device designed to soothe their owners and aid sleep by synchronising with your breathing patterns as you drift off. The aim is to match the robots ‘breathing’ sounds and physical rhythm as it whispers lullabies or reads to you through audio books.

Equipped with settings designed for relaxation, naps and full sleep, you can customise your new bedfellow with a handy accompanying app.

Far out.

1) Perpetual printing

Say what? My printer can print in perpetuity already! No we are talking about a device that prints using re-printable paper!

This one has actually been around for a while now. While paper is on the way out in many portions of our lives, the fact that we still print an utterly gargantuan amount around the world.

Office spaces are clearly the worst offenders here but there is a new way to tackle this. Furthermore most print jobs in an office end up in the round filing bin ready to be turfed. What can we do about this mass tree murder and wastage? Print on special $3 sheets in a ‘PrePeat‘ printer.

Each sheet of ‘paper’ comes embedded with special transparent dyes, which change colour with certain temperatures changes — coloured when cool and translucent when hot. The PrePeat printer essentially heats and cools the paper to first erase an image and then create a new image in its place. According to the company, a single sheet of paper can be reused 1,000 times before it needs to be replaced.