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Indian Startup Creates Portable Washing Machine Costing Only Rs 1500


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Indian Startup Creates Portable Washing Machine Costing Only Rs 1500 / $25

 

With a goal of placing a ‘washing machine in every household’ and with a vision of ‘When technology meets common man, World prospers’, a Mumbai based startup is aiming to offer fully functional, portable washing machines for only Rs 1500.

This is unique one-of-its-kind device to wash clothes has been named: Venus – The Mini Portable Washing Machine.

The startup has already shared their plans with crowd-sourcing platform IndieGoGo, and have pitched to raise $50,000 (Rs 30, 00,000) before December 12, 2014, which will enable them to mass-produce this exciting device, and fulfill their mission and vision.

At the time of writing, $1250 out of $50,000 has already been raised.

Piyush Agarwalla, founder of Vimbas Navrachna, the startup which has invented this idea said, “The simplicity of design will enable us to make this machine at a very low price – if mass manufactured. Making this device available in the market for an affordable price for the poor families in the third world will help millions of women who presently are forced to wash clothes by hand,”

Venus-Portable-Waching-Machine.jpg

How Will It Work?

This washing machine can be described as an electronic hand blender, which is small enough to be carried in a backpack and large enough to wash 4-5 clothes in a bucket, with strikingly good results. Every wash will take maximum 4 – 5 minutes, and it is being advised that the machine be used for 30 minutes in a day.

Here is a video which describes its functioning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o33wO3bovTk

 
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[–]onedayAlawyer 25 points

16 hours ago  

At least it's pretty fishy.

They praise a product released in 2010 as "brand-new". And with a price of 50$ on ebay its cheaper than the final version of their re-release will be, lol.

[–]vimbas 4 points

3 hours ago  

Kindly look at my answer above to know why this on Indiegogo is more expensive than our similar model on ebay.in

The very reason we are on Indiegogo is to get required funds to mass manufacture this machine. Once that is accomplished, we can easily sell at $25 or lower - if possible. This machine is essentially an alternative for those who can't afford the regualr machines. However, due to the compact light weight design, it has many practical uses for even those who already have regular washers. We have explained this on our campaign page.

[–]angerlives 1 point

an hour ago  

There have been portable washingmachines for trailers and such for many decades anyway. In the same pricerange

[–]BreathGas 0 points

15 hours ago  

The one on ebay doesn't look as heavy duty, though.

[–]crusoe 19 points

14 hours ago  

Here is a youtube video from 2011

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqwnoRjoy8M

http://handywashingmachine.blogspot.com/

I think the indiegogo guys are the creator of the machine, they're just looking for more funding to improve production.

My big concern is they say they use a spray to waterproof the electronics. This implies a lack of GFCI in the device itself.

[–]garden_peeman 7 points

10 hours ago  

Like I replied to a top-level commenter, this design has been around for ages. We had one 20 years ago, definitely not an original idea.

[–]TheGodEmperorOfChaos 2 points

6 hours ago  

Agreed, I remember my Grandmother having a USSR model of this thing at least 15 years ago in red and white-ish yellow plastic. So yeah, its a scam and its old technology, and I'm sure it wasn't spray Insulated back then.

[–]vimbas -2 points

3 hours ago  

Please see my post above. We agree it is an old discarded technology. But we have re-engineered this old technology with a blend of modern. The machine we are is simple, compact and can be used with any plastic bucket. It is energy efficient and is 100% shock proof. A car battery operated model is also on its way.

This technology may not be of any use for people like you who have the latest washing machines. But think about millions of women around the world who wash clothes daily by hand because they can't afford to buy a regular washer...If we are proving them a low cost alternative which will ease their burden somewhat, what is the harm? Why is there such a hue & cry about it? Many existing technologies and ideas over history have been re-engineered successfully. We intend to do the same with this one and benefit the poorer population of this world.

[–]deadkactus 4 points

2 hours ago *  

grrr. give it up. Just say you want the funding for the machines to mass manufacture a product you believe you could sell (truth). Don't act all saintly and like you are helping the masses stay clean. Don't try to pull on heart strings with this poor people stuff. Poor people have a lot more to worry then just clean clothing, with the lack of work, I'm sure they have time to wash the few pieces the may posses. This is for lower middle class families who do not want to spend on a full size machine if this one is good enough. You'll sell better if you had some attitude instead of being all feed the children wishie washy.

[–]frickinsweetdude 5 points

2 hours ago

 

Seriously. This product is not at all for impoverished people and has an extremely niche market. The water in those buckets is more valuable to the people this guy is trying to distribute these machines to. Not to mention it requires electricity to function. It also leaves all that soap in your clothes, so you either dump that soapy bucket out and put more water in to rinse, or you eventually have clothes saturated with dry soap. You'd be walking down the streets of Mumbai looking like Mr. Bubble when it rains.

 

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WTF ...hahaha .. scam lu cheyatam lo manolla tarvathey inkaa evadaina kani

 

But ..

 

 

[–]vimbas 10 points

4 hours ago  

Please note that the product available on ebay.in is also from us. It is being resold by a reseller. We have been developing this product for quite sometime. The initial model had drawbacks and was withdrawn. Our strategy has been to release limited numbers in the market to test the concept acceptability and conduct trials in actual working conditions. Based on the feedbacks, we have finally zeroed down on a model that is tried & tested. The super insulation feature is the most recent addition and is not available on models sold on ebay.in This feature will start with machines going out to Indiegogo backers and henceforth in all future machines. This is the reason for cost escalation since the super insulator is expensive and imported from Russia. We are negotiating discounted rates with the manufacturer.

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But ..

 

 

[–]vimbas 10 points

4 hours ago  

Please note that the product available on ebay.in is also from us. It is being resold by a reseller. We have been developing this product for quite sometime. The initial model had drawbacks and was withdrawn. Our strategy has been to release limited numbers in the market to test the concept acceptability and conduct trials in actual working conditions. Based on the feedbacks, we have finally zeroed down on a model that is tried & tested. The super insulation feature is the most recent addition and is not available on models sold on ebay.in This feature will start with machines going out to Indiegogo backers and henceforth in all future machines. This is the reason for cost escalation since the super insulator is expensive and imported from Russia. We are negotiating discounted rates with the manufacturer.

 

 

interesting ...

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