More Sorting

I've had some additional thoughts about sorting:

First, while I will need a color sensor to do the sorting, I'm thinking a weight sensor will be more appropriate for the initial detection. There are two reasons for this: First, it will eliminate the need for a light to always be on, thus (hopefully) saving power and (definitely) making everything less creepy. Second, if I can measure the weight of the article of clothing in the shoot, I can keep track of how much is in each washer/dryer and know when to run that way, thus eliminating a weight or volume sensor in the washer/dryers themselves, which was going to be really complicated, because electronics and hot soapy water don't mix particularly well.

Second, the controller board will need to be able to communicate with the washer/dryers to tell them when to run. I'm thinking wired connections are probably the way to go here, and I will either hack into the control circuitry of the washer/dryers, or do something really dumb that will just automatically push the right buttons. (I haven't thought about soap yet. I figure how I do that will depend on the exact washer/dryers I have. I will need to do some research on this beforehand, because washers are expensive so I want to get the right thing to begin with.)

Third, to communicate with this setup from the bedroom, there are two options: First, I could have wires going up the laundry shoot to the bedroom, say to a few control buttons and an LCD. Getting these wires in initially might be somewhat complicated because I'd want to be sure nothing would fall on them. Also, I don't know how long wire can be before its resistance becomes a problem. (I suppose this is something I could calculate once I figure out what gauge wire I'm using.)

On the other hand, I could do it via wireless, either bluetooth or the internet. In this case, I have to deal with sending wireless signals from inside a laundry shoot. I will either have really awesome reception, or none at all. I'm guessing none at all, because that's the way things always go. A sub-option here would be to move the control board out of the laundry shoot and just have wires going to the weight sensor and motor inside the laundry shoot. This would also have the advantage of letting me see laundry room status from anywhere in the house on my universal remote. (Have I mentioned that? It will probably be an app on a tablet...maybe phone...that will let me control the universe of the MSM.)

Fourth, it's possible Arduino would be a good alternative to Raspberry Pi for this project. I'm going for cheap and simple, and my preliminary research says Arduino is a little better in both those areas, unless I want wireless, in which case the Raspberry Pi probably wins. I will have to continue reading up on this.