洗衣機變身遊戲機 玩家表現決定乾淨程度
The time-consuming and mundane chore of laundry could soon be banished to history, with an invention that harnesses the power of our own competitiveness.
Lee Wei Chen, a 27-year-old student at Kingston University, London, has invented a fiendishly clever combination of a video game and a washing machine.
Housed in the classic arcade-game cabinet, the top half is a challenging coin-operated driving game, while the bottom half is a front-loading washer.
Even if it was just a novel way to pass the time as the washing machine ran through it's yle, Mr Lee's idea would be a worthy one.
But wait, as advertisers say, there's more.
Mr Lee, originally from Taiwan, has linked the circuitry of the two machines, so the washing cycle is dependent on the proficiency of the gamer.
Nail the game's various levels, with a decent score and without losing precious lives, and the laundry will be done in no time at all.
But, if you stink at the game, your clothes will stink too.
The washing machine will stop wherever it is in it's cycle, and it will refuse to start up again until the gamer adds more money and continues to play.
The idea came to Mr Lee after he realised he had been wasting a good portion of his 27 years playing video games.
He said: "I realised that the skills I had developed in the virtual world were useless in the real world. I wanted to make them useful."
Parents may have difficulty getting their children out of the laundry - but at least their clothes will be very clean.據英國《每日郵報》11月11日報道，隨着一項利用我們自身競爭力創造的新發明問世，耗時且枯燥無聊的洗衣工作不久將成爲歷史。
來自倫敦金斯頓大學的27歲學生李威晨(音譯)發明了一款新式的洗衣機，極其巧妙地將遊戲機和洗衣機結合在了一起。
該機器的主體是一個經典街機遊戲機的機身，上半部是一個投幣遊戲機，下半部是一個前置式洗衣機。
雖然這只是在洗衣機工作時用來打發時間的一種新穎的方式，李威晨的這一創意仍然是有價值的。
不過別急，正如廣告上所說的，還不僅如此。
來自臺灣的李威晨將兩種機器的電路接在一起，如此一來，洗衣機的運轉就取決於玩家對遊戲的熟悉程度了。
通過不錯的得分和不丟失寶貴生命來一一攻破遊戲各個關卡，洗衣工作很快就會完成。
但是，如果你在遊戲中表現糟糕，那你的衣服也就洗不乾淨了。
而且洗衣機也會因此停止運轉，除非玩家再投錢繼續遊戲，否則洗衣機不會重新開始工作。
李威晨想出這一創意，是因爲他意識到自己二十七年來在打遊戲上已經浪費了太多時間。
他說：“我發覺自己在虛擬世界中練就的技能在真實世界裏毫無用處。我希望讓這些技能變得有用。”
家長們可能會很難把他們的孩子從洗衣機旁拉走了——但至少孩子們的衣服會洗得非常乾淨。
