German company invents talking washing machine
A
German company
has built
the world's
first washing
machine that
talks and
recognises spoken
commands.
The machine
introduces itself
to users
as "Hermine".
Speech recognition
software allows
it to
understand even
complex commands
like: "Pre-wash,
then a
hot wash
at 95
degrees, spin
at 1400
rotations, and
start in
half an
hour."
Speaking in
a friendly
woman's
voice, Hermine
also gives
advice on
which washing
agent to use
or how
to get
chewing gum
or wax
stains out. To those
who have
never done
their own
laundry before,
she explains
how to
sort clothes
and how
to load
the machine.
Hermine is
based on
a Siemens
washer and
was developed
by Speech
Experts, a
company based
in Regensburg.
The machine
will be
introduced at
Hanover's
Cebit fair,
which starts
on Wednesday,
March 12.
Company spokeswoman
Angelika Salmen
says they
will use
the fair
to gauge
public interest.
"If people
buy our
product, it
will go
into mass
production," she
told the
Sueddeutsche Zeitung
newspaper.
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