> 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.
 >
 >
 > Story filed: 11:36 Friday 7th March 2003


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