Design and development of ‘smart basket’ system for resource optimization

The paper proposes a `smart basket' system as an alternative solution to optimize management of electrical and water consumption in domestic laundry activities. The device acts as a microcontroller-based digital weighing system, and weighs unwashed clothes prior to the laundry stage. In principle, the weights are measured through the use of force sensitive resistance (FSR) sensor, where the results are being displayed on liquid crystal display (LCD). The system is designed with a keypad to enable user selection of weights. Buzzer is used to alert users in case where the basket has reached the selected weight threshold. Results using the `smart basket' system were compared with data from Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (SYABAS), indicating that resource consumption can be reduced by as much as 33%.