[Interview] Auto Open Door Brings Everyday Convenience to Home Appliances

Anyone who has stood in front of a refrigerator with arms full of groceries or tried to pull out damp laundry long after a wash cycle has likely wished for a helping hand to open the door. In response, Samsung Electronics introduced the Auto Open Door feature in 2021 — starting with simple touch-to-open functionality for refrigerators.

Today, Auto Open Door is available across a range of appliances, including refrigerators, ovens, washing machines, dryers and dishwashers.¹

Washer-dryers and dishwashers open automatically at the end of a cycle for better hygiene and more convenience. The 2025 Bespoke AI Laundry Combo goes further, adding air circulation to reduce up to 40%² of leftover moisture in the drum after washing.

Starting this year, users don’t even need to say “Hi Bixby” to activate Auto Open Door — a simple command like “Open the fridge door” is enough.

Samsung Newsroom spoke with Nae-young Park from the Washing Machine Module Lab, Digital Appliances (DA) Business, and Chang-Woo Han from the AI Solution Team, Samsung Research at Samsung Electronics to learn how the feature came to life.

▲ (From left) Nae-young Park and Chang-Woo Han

Q. What inspired the development of Auto Open Door?

Park: When putting groceries into the refrigerator or loading laundry into the washing machine, users often had to set down what they were carrying just to open the door. With washing machines, leaving laundry inside after a cycle could lead to lingering moisture and musty odors. We developed this feature to ease those inconveniences while also considering hygiene.

Q. What aspects did you focus on most during development?

Park: We considered several factors, including opening angle and speed, to make sure the door opened in a stable, natural way. Angles were tested in one-degree increments, and the structure was fine-tuned to create an experience that didn’t feel too slow or too fast. For washing machines, we even measured oxygen concentration at different door angles to find the optimal setting for smooth air circulation — effectively reducing residual moisture in the drum.

Q. How was the voice-activated door-opening feature designed to work without calling Bixby?

Han: Because the system had to recognize commands without a wake-up phrase, it needed to remain in standby and respond quickly. That required balancing energy efficiency with responsiveness, using low-power, low-latency technology. To achieve this, we implemented low-power keyword detection and on-device automatic speech recognition (ASR) — detecting the user’s voice, identifying phrases like “Open the fridge door” and using on-device ASR to accurately interpret and execute the command.

Q. What efforts went into making the voice recognition technology stable and efficient?

Han: High-quality voice recognition depends on accurately understanding a variety of commands and requires large amounts of recorded voice data. Since collecting that data manually is time-consuming and resource-intensive, we developed zero-shot text-to-speech (TTS)³ technology to streamline the process. Zero-shot TTS can synthesize required sentences in many different voices and use them for training. We advanced the technology to the point where it can replace models trained on real human voices.

Q. What is the future development direction for Auto Open Door?

Park: Looking ahead, Auto Open Door will be expanded to more products. We want to equip a broader range of appliances with this technology so users can interact with any Samsung appliance naturally. Our goal is to create solutions that make life easier for everyone, regardless of their physical condition or circumstance.

Han: This year, we introduced new voice recognition capabilities such as Voice ID — which distinguishes between family members — and voice control that works without a wake-up phrase. Moving forward, we will keep improving core performance while developing more personalized services for users.

With Auto Open Door, Samsung has turned user-centered innovation into everyday convenience. Going forward, Samsung plans to continue making this feature available on more of its products. As the company continues to deliver differentiated technologies and new appliance experiences, consumers can look forward to even greater ease and comfort at home.

¹ Products and models equipped with the feature may vary by market.
² Up to 40% moisture reduction measured after 24 hours with Auto Open Door compared to closed-door conditions. Test conducted at 25℃ and 55% relative humidity with a 1 kg IEC laundry load (standard cycle, spin level 4) and door open at a 10˚angle.
³ Zero-shot TTS references approximately five seconds of speech provided by the user to synthesize new audio in a similar style.

Source: Press Release