Dishwasher with targeted sensing

An automatic dishwasher comprising:

• a wash tub defining a wash chamber having an open face providing access to the wash chamber;
• a door moveably mounted to a housing to selectively close the open face;
• at least one basket located within the wash chamber for holding utensils;
• a sprayer carriage moveably mounted within the wash chamber for bi-directionally translational movement along two orthogonal directions in a horizontal plane relative to the basket within the wash chamber;
• a liquid source comprising a flexible liquid delivery line located within the wash chamber;
• a spray arm mounted to the moveable sprayer carriage for cooperative bi-directional translation movement along two orthogonal directions in a horizontal plane relative to the basket within the wash chamber, fluidly coupled to the flexible liquid delivery line, and rotatably mounted to the sprayer carriage moveably mounted relative to the basket within the wash chamber for rotation about a rotational axis to spray liquid to different portions of the basket throughout the wash chamber;
• a sensor mounted to at least one of the sprayer carriage moveably mounted relative to the basket within the wash chamber and spray arm and outputting a signal for use in determining a load value at different portions of the basket;
• and
• a controller operably coupled to the sprayer carriage moveably mounted relative to the basket to control the direction of bi-directionally translational movement of the sprayer carriage through different portions of the basket within the wash chamber and operably coupled to the sensor to receive the signal at different portions and determine the load value in the different portions of the basket when the door to the open face is closed and during a running of a dishwashing cycle;
• wherein the sprayer carriage may be moved bi-directionally along the two orthogonal directions to effect a corresponding movement of the spray arm within the wash chamber, and the flexible liquid delivery line moves with the spray arm to supply liquid to the spray arm while the spray arm is moving.