Dishwasher with targeted sensing and washing

An automatic dishwasher comprising:

• a housing defining a wash chamber;
• a basket located within the wash chamber for holding utensils to be washed;
• a directionally-controllable sprayer carriage moveably mounted within the wash chamber for bi-directional 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 sprayer carried by the carriage and fluidly coupled to the flexible liquid delivery line and having at least one outlet for spraying liquid into the wash chamber;
• and
• a controller operably coupled to the sprayer carriage to control the bi-directional translational movement of the sprayer carriage within the wash chamber to thereby control the direction of the spray liquid exiting the outlet to at least one preselected location within the wash chamber;
• wherein the carriage may be moved bi-directionally along the two orthogonal directions to effect a corresponding movement of the sprayer within the wash chamber, and the flexible liquid delivery line moves with the sprayer to supply liquid to the sprayer while the sprayer is moving.