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Bosch Analyses Stains at IFA 2017

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IFA is traditionally the home of weird and wonderful gadgets, but the winner for the 2017 award for weirdest and most wonderful might be no other than German conglomerate Bosch and its prototype clothing stain analyser.

Bosch Stain AnalyserDubbed the X-Spect, the handheld device looks like a TV remote and comes complete with a small screen and capacitive touch buttons. It essentially scans fabrics and stains before suggesting how to best wash the garment in question. An IFA demonstration even had the X-Spect paired via wifi with a Bosch washing machine, allowing it to send optimal washing instructions.

That said, the current model can only determine two component materials in a fabric, and is able to read four different types of stains, including chocolate and lipstick. However Bosch plains to increase the number to 16 to match with Bosch washing machine stain-cleaning presets.

In addition, the company also wants to turn the X-Spect into a food analyser, allowing one to check the nutritional content and detect the ripeness of fruits and vegetables. Thus the device might get paired with smart refrigerators or ovens for inventory scanning, recipe recommendations or freshness monitoring.

So far Bosch says the X-Spect only a concept, and gives no word as to when it will be available, if at all. However it does insist the IFA prototype is an actual working device complete with functional cloud-based back-end packed with fabric and food data, so maybe it will become a commercial product sooner, not later.

Go Bosch at IFA 2017