The time-consuming and mundane chore of laundry could soon be banished to history， with an invention that harnesses the power of our own competitiveness.

A 27-year-old student at Kingston University， London， has invented a fiendishly clever combination of a video game and a washing machine.

Housed in the classic arcade-game cabinet， the top half is a challenging coin-operated driving game， while the bottom half is a front-loading washer.

Even if it was just a novel way to pass the time as the washing machine ran through its cycle. The idea would be a worthy one.

But wait， as advertisers say， there’s more.

The inventor linked the circuitry of the two machines， so the washing cycle is dependent on the proficiency of the gamer.

Nail the game’s various levels with a decent score and without losing precious lives， and the laundry will be done in no time at all.

But， if you stink at the game， your clothes will stink too.

The washing machine will stop wherever it is in its cycle， and it will refuse to start up again until the gamer adds more money and continues to play.

The idea came to the inventor after he realised he had been wasting a good portion of his 27 years playing video games.

He said， “I realised that the skills I had developed in the virtual world were useless in the real world. I wanted to make them useful.

Parents may have difficulty getting their children out of the laundry — but at least their clothes will be very clean.

隨著一項(xiàng)利用我們自身競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力創(chuàng)造的新發(fā)明問(wèn)世，耗時(shí)且枯燥無(wú)聊的洗衣工作不久將成為歷史。

來(lái)自倫敦金斯頓大學(xué)的27歲學(xué)生發(fā)明了一款新式的洗衣機(jī)，極其巧妙地將游戲機(jī)和洗衣機(jī)結(jié)合在了一起。

該機(jī)器的主體是一個(gè)經(jīng)典街機(jī)游戲機(jī)的機(jī)身，上半部是一個(gè)投幣游戲機(jī)，下半部是一個(gè)前置式洗衣機(jī)。

雖然這只是在洗衣機(jī)工作時(shí)用來(lái)打發(fā)時(shí)間的一種新穎的方式，這一創(chuàng)意仍然是有價(jià)值的。

不過(guò)別急，正如廣告上所說(shuō)的，還不僅如此。

將兩種機(jī)器的電路接在一起，如此一來(lái)，洗衣機(jī)的運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)就取決于玩家對(duì)游戲的熟悉程度了。

通過(guò)不錯(cuò)的得分和不丟失寶貴生命來(lái)一一攻破游戲各個(gè)關(guān)卡，洗衣工作很快就會(huì)完成。

但是，如果你在游戲中表現(xiàn)糟糕，那你的衣服也就洗不干凈了。

而且洗衣機(jī)也會(huì)因此停止運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)，除非玩家再投錢(qián)繼續(xù)游戲，否則洗衣機(jī)不會(huì)重新開(kāi)始工作。

發(fā)明者想出這一創(chuàng)意，是因?yàn)樗庾R(shí)到自己27年來(lái)在打游戲上已經(jīng)浪費(fèi)了太多時(shí)間。

他說(shuō)：“我發(fā)覺(jué)自己在虛擬世界中練就的技能在真實(shí)世界里毫無(wú)用處。我希望讓這些技能變得有用。”

家長(zhǎng)們可能會(huì)很難把他們的孩子從洗衣機(jī)旁拉走了，但至少孩子們的衣服會(huì)洗得非常干凈。