The Increvable washer needs YOU!
THIS is the washing machine I want! (*)
The “Increvable” (that is “The tireless” or “The deathless” in French) is a washing machine designed to last FIFTY YEARS, and (when supported, see below) should be available already assembled, or as an IKEA-style assembly kit.
The Increvable is designed to make its maintenance and repair as easy as possible. Even better, the software that controls the Increvable circuits and washing programmes can be easily updated, to adapt it to personal user needs, as well as different local electricity tariffs, or rules. Besides the website, more information about the Increvable is available hereand here (French).
When I first discovered it, in 2016, it was not clear if the Increvable would really be Open Hardware/Open Source, that is if its full design, software source code… would be available with an Open Source License. In any case, the Increvable really seems a “washing machine ready for Digital DIY”.
By this we mean that, thanks to its modular structure and design criteria, the machine seems ready for all kinds of digital DIY customization, from the internal software to the mechanics (e.g. 3D printing spare parts or accessories). Such a scenario seems as logical as.. unavoidable. It is very likely that many buyers of such a washing machine would not resist the temptation of customizing it in some manner, no matter what its license is. Assuming they don’t buy the Increvable **specifically **to hack it!
Where is the Increvable today?
Waiting for more people to demand it. According to its FAQ, the Increvable:
- aims to cost “about 1,000 euros for a lifetime of at least 20 years or 10 000 hours of use”
- to become an industrial and commercial reality, that is a product you could actually buy, the Increvable “only” needs “to get closer to an manufacturer ready to invest with us”
- when that happens (never too early, if you ask me), the Increvable should be the first of a whole line of other “durable, repairable and upgradable household appliances such as a dryer, a dishwasher, a refrigerator and why not small appliances or a printer (an other massive ewaste issue)!"
Final question: how many other “DiDIY-ready washing machines or other home appliances do you know in 2020? Please let me know.
(*) This post is an update of one I wrote in August 2016, for the DiDIY Project. It was drafted in April 2020, but only put online in August, because… my coronavirus reports, of course
Who writes this, why, and how to help
I am Marco Fioretti, tech writer and aspiring polymath doing human-digital research and popularization.
I do it because YOUR civil rights and the quality of YOUR life depend every year more on how software is used AROUND you.
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