Kenmore Debuts Talking Appliances

If you've ever wished your appliance could explain its problem to the help line technician so you didn't have to, your problems may be solved. 

Kenmore has unveiled a set of washers and dryers that can speak to technicians, at least over the phone. The appliances, called the Kenmore Elite washer and dryer series, use a technology called Kenmore Connect to speak. Through Kenmore Connect, a machine will send real time diagnostic information to a technician over a phone line.

Once this information is received, the technician can help the consumer fix the problem. The machines don't speak via a conventional speech synthesizer; the sounds are digitally coded and come out as beeps and something that sounds like noise.

To use the system, users call up the help line and connect with a technician. They then hold the phone over the machine's power switch, press an appropriate button either for either the washer or dryer and wait for the beeping sounds. Once they hear the beeps, they release the button and will hear transmission sounds.  

Kenmore said technicians use 100 different data points derived from the Kenmore Connect transmission. This includes air and water temperatures, cycle times and spin speeds. The data points can point to the status of certain electrical and mechanical sub-systems or reveal the mechanical issue with the error code.

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The talking appliance is not only convenient for the user, but for Kenmore as well. It allows the company to reduce the amount of time it spends fixing appliances in someone's house.

"The majority of service calls during the first year of ownership can be rectified by educating new owners over the phone once we have a deep understanding of the question at hand thanks to the information being sent from their Kenmore appliance directly to our experts via the phone."

Kenmore said it conducted field testing earlier in the year. The initial results from these tests showed the talking significantly reduced the number of customers that needed an in-home repair.

Sears Holdings, of which Kenmore is a division, could not be reached for comment.