Congratulations on your find! That dryer is indeed from the mid 80's. My brother and SIL had an almost similar dryer, but with a white control panel. After Whirlpool took over Philips, Whirlpool used this design too.
That AEG Lavatherm 610 was a good dryer too. Did it still have the smaller door opening? The AEG dryers with the larger door opening were of a lesser quality IMHO. They were noisier than the older AEG/Zanker design. My first dryer was a Zanker Thermat 455, a very fast dryer and less noisy than the AEG Lavatherm 330 I have.
I don't know when the first sensor dryer came on the European market. I think Miele's fist was the 460, that model was launched in the 60's IIRC. But perhaps another brand had one before Miele. I will see if I can get an answer.
