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Every year thousands of cell phones, PDAs and music players meet their demise in toilet water. But lest it seem the toilet is merely a destroyer of technology, consider the growing number of high-end toilets sporting remote controls, wireless sensors and built-in accessories such as music players and lighting.
Slideshow: Tricked-out toilets
Celebrate World Toilet Day like a king
When a cell phone goes through the washer
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See our slide show for pictures of high-tech toilets and related gadgetry.
Many of these advanced receptacles come from Japan, where manufacturers Inax, Matsushita Electric Industrial and Toto are based. There, residents have embraced the high-tech toilet for more than a decade. Designs are driven by different factors; luxury models include docks for sound cards and wireless remotes, for instance, while health-oriented designs add sensors for urinalysis and speech-activated commands.
On the luxury side, one of the newer models is the Inax Satis Asteo Washlet, which includes built-in speakers and an SD card reader for playing tunes. It’s so far not available in the United States, but the Alauno from Matsushita is. A tankless toilet with an automated self-cleaning function, the Alauno also has built-in speakers and LED lights for nocturnal users who don’t want to turn on bright bathroom lights.
From Toto there’s the Neorest 600, a tankless toilet and “personal cleansing unit” (it has a built-in bidet function, as do many of the models from Japanese manufacturers). Its lid automatically opens whenever an individual approaches the Neorest 600, and when the individual walks away, it automatically flushes and the seat and lid close.
But that’s not all. The Neorest 600 has a remote control for operating features including water spray temperature, pressure and direction. The remote also controls a seat heater, air dryer and deodorizer.
Lately American plumbing manufacturers are catching on to the trend. A San Francisco start-up, Brondell, launched a line of high-tech toilet seats in 2005. Its Swash seats can be installed on most standard toilet bases and come with a wireless remote that controls a bidet wash, seat heater and warm air dryer built into the seat. Mark Cuban is among a group of investors that provided $1.3 million of Series A financing to Brondell. Continued
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Copyright 2007 Network World Inc.
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RE: High-tech toilets are lighted, play music and test your vital signs By Paul McNamara on November 19, 2007, 9:23 am Reply | Read entire comment I guess those who can afford one of these fancy-pants toilets don't worry about having to fix them when they break. But for the rest of us (OK, some of us)adding...
Crapzilla the Great. By meatpieandtatters on November 20, 2007, 8:45 pm Reply | Read entire comment Hahahahahaha.
When robots turn evil and By Brad Reed on November 20, 2007, 11:11 am Reply | Read entire comment When robots turn evil and try to enslave us, we will regret the day we gave toilets these kinds of powers. Mark. My. Words.
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