HOME APPLIANCE AND METHOD OF OPERATING A HOME APPLIANCE

1 . A method of operating a home appliance having a treating chamber for receiving an article for treatment according to an automatic cycle of operation stored in memory of a programmable controller operably controlling one or more actuators to implement the cycle of operation and where the treating chamber has an open face selectively closeable by a door, the method comprising:

sense, by a sensor, a presence of a user at a predetermined location with respect to the home appliance; and

automatically initiate movement of the door from a closed position to an opened position based on the sensing.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the sensing the user comprises sensing a body part of the user at the predetermined location.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the sensing a presence of the user at the predetermined location comprises sensing a gesture made by the user at the predetermined location.

4 . The method of claim 3 wherein the sensing the gesture comprises sensing a movement of the user between two or more predetermined locations on a housing of the home appliance.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the home appliance comprises a clothes washer, clothes dryer, refrigerator, dishwasher, or oven.

6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the sensing the presence of the user at the predetermined location comprises sensing a touch made by the user on the home appliance.

7 . The method of claim 6 wherein the sensing the touch comprises sensing the touch on a predetermined portion of the home appliance.

8 . The method of claim 1 wherein the sensing the presence of the user comprises sensing the presence of an inanimate object indicative of a presence of the user.

9 . The method of claim 8 wherein the sensing the presence of the inanimate object comprises sensing an IR chip in a laundry basket or dish.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving an input signal from the user and disabling the automatic initiating of the movement based thereon.

11 . The method of claim 1 wherein the initiating movement of the door comprises partially moving the door to the opened position.

12 . The method of claim 1 wherein the initiating movement of the door comprises fully moving the door to the opened position.

13 . The method of claim 1 wherein the initiating movement of the door from the closed position to the opened position comprises pivoting the door vertically, pivoting the door horizontally, or vertically sliding the door.

14 . The method of claim 1 wherein the predetermined location is within a distance range from the home appliance.

15 . A home appliance for treating an article according to an automatic cycle of operation, comprising:

a treating chamber having an open face;

a door for selectively closing the open face of the treating chamber;

a sensor configured to sense a user at a predetermined location with respect to the home appliance and provide a signal based thereon;

an actuator operably coupled with the door to move the door from a closed position of the door to an opened position of the door; and

a controller for controlling operation of the home appliance and wherein the controller receives the sensor signal and actuates the actuator based thereon.

16 . The home appliance of claim 15 wherein the actuator is a spring configured to move the door to an opened position including that of a partially opened position.

17 . The home appliance of claim 15 wherein the actuator is a motor.

18 . The home appliance of claim 17 wherein the motor is configured to move the door to an opened position where the door is fully open.

19 . The home appliance of claim 17 wherein the motor is configured to move the door from the opened position to the closed position.

20 . The home appliance of claim 19 , further comprising a button operably coupled with the controller that when activated by a user initiates the automatic closing of the door by the motor.