room in the house, w here we prepare for the day to come,
or wash off the day tha s. It takes molten
metal, powdered glass, and rendered fat to help
us take care of business. 7 million cell phones a year
are dropped in the toilet. NARRATOR: From touch-free, to
low-flow, to pay-as-you-go. Now Bathroom Tech II
on "Modern Marvels." [theme music] The glitz and glam
of Las Vegas, where dreams can come true, or more
than likely go down the drain. While most of us will have to
settle for a standard hotel room here, a few high rollers
with hefty lines of credit might snag an invitation to one
of these exclusive Wynn Resort Fairway Villa suites, with
equally exclusive bathroom facilities. We're in one of the
Fairway Villa suite bathroom accommodations, and we've tried
to anticipate every comfort. NARRATOR: Each one
bedroom villa suite features a powder room, as
well as two adjoining master bathrooms. These are his
and hers bathrooms. There is one with
considerations for the lady, and one with specific
considerations for the gentleman. In the men's room, we have
an enormous steam shower. The shower is lined in brown
fantasy marble, which we import from China, and features a
rain dome, massage shower head, full steam capabilities,
and a heated mirror for shaving that will not fog, a very
large lav with a counter that is large enough to handle
all of the toiletries that any gentleman might bring. Everything in the men's area
also has been raised a bit. NARRATOR: And of course,
there's a flat screen TV. The lady's room is just as posh. This particular room has a
floor of spider marble, which we import from Greece. The countertops are arco iris
onyx that I fly to Italy, so that I can hand
select each slab. NARRATOR: There is
also an overflow tub with built in LEDs, to help
wash away those Sin City sins. And of course, no
high-end bathroom is complete without a private
glass-encased bidet and toilet area. Regardless how high
or low your end is, we're all slaves to
the common commode. This modern marvel
changed the world, by efficiently eliminating the
waste most people don't want to think about. At American Standard, located in
the aptly named Piscataway, New Jersey, these potty people have
put a great deal of thought into making some of the
best toilets on the market. For those who like one
that's unstoppable, meet the king of
thrones, The Champion IV. American Standard
makes the bold claim that this titanic of toilets
is virtually uncloggable. We put it to the test, to see
what goes down with the ship. Some of the things that
go into toilets that really shouldn't are toys
and cell phones. Up to 7 million cell phones a
year are dropped in the toilet. And so we do consider those
things when we're designing, but these are not things
that belong in your toilet. Another industry test is
called the dye exchange test for the removal of liquid waste. NARRATOR: So far,
it passes the test. And then there's this
little experiment using a stand-in
for something that's no stranger to being flushed. Another industry test is to
take miso, which is soy paste, and put it in a latex container. This container holds
50 grams of miso. Studies show that humans can
eliminate up to 350 grand of solid waste. So I have 500 grams
here in my hand, and we test toilets like the
Champion IV up to 1,000 grams. So let's put them in
the toilet and flush. NARRATOR: Why does the
Champion IV prevail where some other toilets can fail? This is probably the
flush valve in the toilet that you have now. It's roughly 2
inches in diameter. A high-performance toilet
may have a flush valve that's 3 inches in diameter. And the Champion IV has this
4-inch diameter accelerator flush valve. You can see it's very large,
and allows the water to leave the tank at a very rapid rate. The other difference
with the Champion IV is that the trap way is 2 and
3/8 inches in diameter, which is the largest that
you can purchase. NARRATOR: Most toilets have
just a 2-inch trap way. That extra 3/8 of an inch
can make all the difference between a flushing success
and a flushing failure. When you trip the lever,
1.6 gallons of water exit through the piston-action
flush valve in under a second. The rest of the
sequence is generally similar with all toilets. Some of the water travels
through the rim into the bowl. The remaining water goes down a
channel and into the trap way. A siphon effect
combined with gravity pulls everything down the drain. Thanks to a set of water
usage regulations passed by the Environmental
Protection Agency in 1992, the Champion
IV and all newer toilets have only 1.6 gallons per
flush with which to work. But enterprising
engineers, including those at American Standard,
thought they could do better. This FloWise toilet,
known as an HET, does its job while surpassing
government regulations. The FloWise flushes
on 20% less water, and that's 1.2
gallons per flush. It's important,
because the toilet is one of the largest consumers
of water in a person's household. NARRATOR: The FloWise
owes part of its success to the unique shape and
height of its tank and bowl, which allow it to
flush with less water. The rest is fluid dynamics
and good old gravity. You can see on the
screen is the FloWise bowl. If the shape comes out wrong,
we lose the performance. It's actually a very
small margin of error. With a cutaway, we can see
all the components together that give us
maximum performance. NARRATOR: American Standard's
engineers aren't just toiling to improve the inner
workings of the humble toilet. The exterior gets
some attention, too. While the toilet
looks basically the same over the last 100 years,
from an ergonomic standpoint, they have changed. In recent history, the
toilets have gotten taller. And this is really driven
by aging of boomers. Boomers do not want to
admit they're getting older. And I'm a boomer myself. And so by raising up the
height of the toilet, it's easier to get on and off. One of the issues with
the development of toilets is that we as a population
are growing larger. Weight is an issue
within our population. So we work to make sure we
engineer our toilets to take a heavier load. A number of companies have
developed physically larger toilets to deal with
larger-sized people. NARRATOR: Once a
design is approved, American Standard's version
of the porcelain god gets a rigorous workout
before going into production. This toilet seat
will be hammered with 200 pounds of pneumatic
force over 10,000 times. And these toilets will be
flushed about 10,000 times per week for 25 weeks. After you've flushed, the
next dump for most of us is the sink. The modern sink has
changed civilization, because it allows people to
wash their hands every time, multiple times during the
day without having to bother with disposing the water,
which has inhibited the spread of germs
and sicknesses, allows people perfect hygiene
by being able to brush their teeth more often. It's a very simple thing, but
do without your sink for a while and see where you are. NARRATOR: At Kohler Company
in Kohler, Wisconsin, man and machine join
forces to produce the simple yet
indispensable sink. Here your sink starts off as
a pile of manhole covers, car parts, dumbbells,
and other scrap iron. A powerful magnet
carries the scrap to a furnace, heated to
2,700 degrees Fahrenheit. Workers slag off the impurities
in preparation for the big pour. Meanwhile, the sink molds,
made from sand mixed with water and chemical binders, wait on
the other side of the factory. During the
molding process, you actually two halves of a mold. When we put them together,
there's about a quarter of an inch in between, and
that's what fills up the iron. NARRATOR: The melt is
brought over by forklift and poured into the molds. It takes just a minute for
the molten metal to solidify, and another couple of
hours for the sinks to cool enough to be sent
for grinding and cleaning. They're doing
that robotically. Then it's going and actually
clearing out the drain hole and the supply hole. Once that's complete,
it sets it back off on the conveyor over here,
where it comes to the grinder where we'll manually remove
the remaining flashing and any iron on the
piece prior to getting it ready for enameling. NARRATOR: Sprayers apply
a coat of pink slurry that will act as a primer
to help the enamel adhere to the iron. Then it's into an oven
for eight minutes. Now the casting
has been reheated up to approximately 1,700 degrees. We're gonna take it
out of the furnace, and then bring it over here,
and place it in the enameling frame, where they'll apply the
first coat of enamel glass. That's in a powder format. It's important to get as
much on as quick as you can when the casting's the hottest. So it'll complete this
first coat right now, and then it goes back into
the furnace, where they'll melt that in. NARRATOR: One more cycle and
this bath lav is ready to go. But the lav is just part
of the sink equation. The obligatory faucet begins
life in another foundry, just down the street. Only, here they're melting
brass at 1,800 degrees. A forklift carries
the molten metal to the casting area,
where it'll start to take shape inside a
metal mold with a sand core. At this point, he's putting
the sand core into the die. Now he's getting his liquid
metal, and he's gonna pour it. He steps on the pedal. The die rotates, the metal
flows into the die with gravity. Right now it's solidifying. It takes about 20
seconds to solidify. At that point, he takes it
out, puts it in a cart to cool, and then it'll look like this. NARRATOR: Then the faucet is
machined, polished, and prepped for plating. In the plating area,
this giant dipping rig filled with various
acids, cleaning agents, and chemical compounds ensures
your faucets metalwork doesn't become a pile of
rust from oxidation and corrosive hard
water deposits. The entire plating operation,
lending the faucets their protective layers,
takes about 90 minutes. Then Kohler has to
make them look nice. This happens in the PVD
room, where metallurgy meets chemistry. In physical vapor deposition
over the top of the chrome layer, we put a-- usually
it's zirconium nitride, titanium nitride coating
over the top to give us the different colors,
they color themselves. NARRATOR: The pieces
are preheated, and then placed inside this
vacuum chamber for 90 minutes, where they'll
be bombarded with metallic ions with the help of
turbo molecular pumps. This electronic coating process
will determine the faucet's finish, everything from
vibrant brushed bronze to polished chrome
to brushed nickel. Then the faucets are off to this
area, where spouts and handles of all imaginable designs
are assembled, tested, and packaged. In today's
marketplace, there's lots of different
types of faucets. For the bathroom, you have
a separate hot and cold, and you can control
both on individually. You also have the
single-lever faucet, which is easy to use, great for
children and people that have arthritis. Going back to the old days
are the bridge faucets. And what that means
is that there's one portion of the faucet that
goes in between that connects the hot and cold above the
counter as opposed to below. NARRATOR: Aesthetics aside,
the technology of sink faucets is still predominantly
based on simple mechanics. But the shower has jumped
into the cyber age. These days, shopping
for a new shower can be a little like
shopping for a car. This model, developed
by the Kohler Company, comes fully loaded. This is the DTV2. What makes DTV2 unique,
it's a fully personalizable digital delivery system
of water, lights, sound, and audio in the shower. The DTV2 incorporates water
delivery with a digital valve. NARRATOR: In conjunction
with a user interface, the digital valve assembly
precisely controls and maintains water temperature. No more waiting for your shower
to heat up and then having it go cold. The valve also regulates
water delivery and massage. There's also a steam function. Steam showers originally
were used as a therapy. Today, they're a luxury that
are used in some of the finer homes. They're electric. Water falls down on a hot
coil or stainless steel plate. The steam is created. NARRATOR: The shower also
has a little something for the other senses. What you see behind me
is the ambient rain panel, which is a 21-inch
LED-lit panel. It also incorporates audio. You can hook up your computer
or any MP3 player to it, and take any of those files
and actually play them in the shower through
our waterproof speakers. NARRATOR: It's like having a
private disco when your shower, and there's more. But maybe the coolest feature
is the different effects that we have. Say you've always wanted a
skylight in your bathroom. You can pick our
sunny cloud feature and actually have moving
clouds in your ceiling. NARRATOR: Mix and match the
options to reflect or enhance your mood. The shower's entire
symphony of functions is conducted by the remote
user interface, that can save and instantly
recall personal settings. Because some of the
DTV2's parts are delicate, workers must hand assemble
and inspect them individually. And needless to say, installing
the DTV2 is a bit more complicated than your
run-of-the-mill shower. The water delivery portion is
going to have a different valve installation behind the wall,
but your plumber can easily do that. Where it's going
to be different is, you have to include
the electrician for some parts of
the system, because of the lighting,
the audio, and some of the pieces behind the wall. You also might need to include
an integrator, someone who helps with setting up
home networks to help you with the audio piece. NARRATOR: The whole shebang-- hydrotherapy, chromatherapy,
and all the rest-- will probably run you somewhere
in the area of $10,000. But it still might be
cheaper than a future of actual therapy. I think the future
of the home shower is basically
personalizing your shower. What you see here is
personalization On a pretty big level. NARRATOR: Of course, to know
where the shower is going, it helps to know
where it's been. It's documented in
vases and murals, places that we see drawings of
ancient Greeks that showered. They showered not for hygiene. They believed it energized
them and gave them power. NARRATOR: Cold water
flowed via terracotta pipes and over the bathers through
showerheads shaped like animal faces. The ancient Romans
and many generations thereafter preferred
their baths to showering. Rudimentary shower
contraptions began to resurface in the early
1800s, like this one, called the American Virginia
stool shower. The bather placed the wood
machine inside a bathtub, and operated a hand pump
to bring water up a hose and out over his head. A foot pedal maneuvered
an attached scrub rush up and down as needed. For decades, the shower
remained a novelty. Only when indoor plumbing became
more commonplace in the mid to late 19th century could
showers become practical. Still, well into
the 20th century, most Americans bathed in tubs,
but only about once or twice a week. During the post-World War
II tract housing boom, builders incorporated
showers into most bathrooms, making it easier for people to
begin a transition to a more frequent washing routine. The major shift between
the bathtub and the shower came in the 1970s. It came about because people
were in a larger hurry, wanted to get ready quicker,
and were more interested in cleanliness. NARRATOR: To accommodate
new, larger conveniences like standalone showers,
today's average master bathroom has roughly doubled in
size since the 1950s. But space and price tag
aside, a luxury shower can carry another cost
if you're not careful. Large rain head or
multiple side sprays can use on average between
10 and 20 gallons of water per minute. NARRATOR: Most of us
still have one of these-- a standard showerhead. Showerheads produced prior to
the EPA Act of 1992 expelled about five gallons
of water per minute. Today, regulations have reduced
that to 2.5 gallons per minute. But which uses more water-- bathing in a tub or showering
with a standard showerhead? NARRATOR: A showerhead that
uses 2 and 1/2 gallons a minute will use 25 gallons
over a 10-minute period, where the average tub holds
about 50 gallons of water. So a 10-minute shower would
use roughly half as much water as bathing in the tub. NARRATOR: American Standard
has put a new spin on low flow, with a FloWise version
of the showerhead. The FloWise uses just 1
and 1/2 gallons per minute. But the bather is none the
wiser and none the dirtier. A conventional 2.5 gallons
per minute showerhead does little more than
deliver a metered amount of pressurized water
through small holes. Flow-wisw showerhead
incorporates a small turbine located in the center. The pressurized
water makes it spin. The turbine breaks
up the droplets while infusing them with
air as they're pushed out. The air makes less water
seem like the same amount. So that at a gallon
a half a minute, you get a nice, forceful shower. NARRATOR: As a compromise,
American Standard has also incorporated an
element of personal choice. If you're taking a shower,
and you're all soaked up, have shampoo in your hair,
and you want to rinse, you just convert the
shower to a maximum of two gallons a minute. It's a combination of the
turbine and an outer spray pattern. And this way you get a
good, satisfying rinse. The great thing about FloWise
is when you turn it off, it automatically resets
itself to a gallon and a half. This way, you're always
conserving water, and you have to
choose to use more. NARRATOR: Before the FloWise
and their other products reach your bathroom, American
Standard's design team puts them through
demanding lifecycle tests. This is our
FloWise showerhead, and what we're doing right now
on this reliability test rig is making sure that the
two different settings work properly over time. This reliability test
rig runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We start the cycle going,
and computers run all of this. And at the end of the
day and over the weekend, we turn off the
lights and go home, but the test continues, so that
we can get the maximum length of test in, in the
shortest amount of time. NARRATOR: We know
what you're thinking. And no, they're not
being hypocrites. The water that it uses
goes through the fitting, goes into our collection pipes,
goes through these pipes, back into our treatment
area, where it's reprocessed, and rechilled,
and repressurized, so that we can use it again. In this way, our impact
as far as water usage is relatively little. NARRATOR: It doesn't matter
if your shower is tricked out or low-flow. Washing in water alone
won't do the job. Do everyone around
you a favor, and look into some other
bathroom offerings. So you're wet, but what's
going to get all that dirt off? Let's ask her. She looks pretty clean. Meet Keridwyn Dwyn
Hershberger of Elgin, Texas. Keridwyn is a
fourth-generation soap-maker, catering to those who
appreciate craft and tradition. Soap is a basic
cleansing agent that can act as a bridge
between oil and dirt and water. NARRATOR: Soap essentially acts
as an emulsifier, or something that facilitates the blending of
substances that don't normally mix. Oil and dirt on the skin
won't combine with water. The emulsifying soap helps
disperse water into the oil while detaching it
from the surface. The oil and dirt are
suspended and diluted, so they can be washed away. Keridwyn makes soap
the old-fashioned way, like they did from the
14th to mid-19th century-- by hand in a cauldron. The most basic components
of soap-making are some form of grease or fat and Lye. Lye can now be
synthetically produced, or it can be dripped from
various types of wood ashes or seaweed ashes. NARRATOR: Some experts attribute
great historical significance to the humble soap recipe. When soap-making became
more popular in the 1300s, midwives began
washing their hands. And with midwives washing their
hands, it led to a decrease in infant mortality rate. So there's certain
schools of thought amongst anthropologists that
actually soap-making helped bring about the Renaissance by
increasing the middle class. NARRATOR: Keridwyn kicks
off the soap-making process by chopping and melting the
rich fat taken from the kidney region of a steer. I am rendering
down the beef tallow, so I have a pure fat as
opposed to a fat with a lot of connective tissue, meat,
blood, things like that. NARRATOR: In the cauldron,
she combines the tallow with pork lard. Once the fat is
melted, she adds in the other active ingredient-- alkali. They have a 50% sodium
hydroxide, or lye water solution. And I'll be adding the
lye water to the fats. The fats are at this point
at about 100 degrees. NARRATOR: Too much lye
can be a bad thing. Alkali is caustic. It can cause minor
burns to the skin. Nothing spectacular like
we saw in "Fight Club," it will cause a minor burn. NARRATOR: And then
she stirs, and stirs. This is actually activating
the saponification, during which the fatty acids
and the oils and the caustic begin to transform into soap. It will actually start to take
on the look of a thick cream gravy or a hot cooked pudding. NARRATOR: To test the
lye level in a batch of soap brew, Keridwyn employees
a most sophisticated method. One of the most traditional
methods is to taste it. I'm really not kidding. I get a little bit on my finger. And that is almost ready. NARRATOR: When the
batch is fully cooked, she scoops the batter into
a shallow mold, where it'll cool and harden
into an alternative to mass-produced soaps. A lot of what sets my soaps
apart is what I don't use. I don't use a lot of the more
modern synthetic ingredients, because I simply don't feel
like they're necessary to make a good soap. And I really don't
feel like they're necessary to put on one's skin. NARRATOR: Mass-produced
or handmade, soap is just the
first line of defense against smelling offensive. But for some, BO is
a formidable foe. Body odor is primarily
generated in the armpits, by a concentration
of sweat glands. Moisture secreted by these
glands is initially odorless, but the natural lipids
or fats it contains provide a growth
medium for bacteria. These bacteria interact
with the lipids, converting them into
compounds like isovaleric acid that give sweat that
characteristic smell. For centuries, people wanted
some way to control body odor. They used different types
of perfumes, colognes, before the bath
became commonplace. But around 1888, the first
trademark deodorant came out. NARRATOR: Some of the
early products masked bad smells, but caused irritation. Fortunately for modern
noses, these products have evolved, so even those
with the most sensitive skin can protect themselves. So which to choose-- deodorant or antiperspirant? Deodorants mask
odor and kill bacteria but do not reduce wetness. Antiperspirants
reduce the wetness through inhibiting the
production of sweat. NARRATOR: The technology
controls odor three ways. One, the active ingredient
eliminates odor-causing bacteria. Two, the fragrance
masks the odor. Three, the reduction in moisture
reduces the amount of bacteria that's able to grow. NARRATOR: Once
antiperspirant is applied, the active ingredient,
an aluminum compound, reacts with moisture on the
skin and becomes gelatinous. The solution plugs the pores,
inhibiting sweat secretion. Regardless of which
type of product you use to keep
yourself inoffensive, there's a good chance it came
from Unilever in Rayford, North Carolina, makers of Degree and
other personal care products. This is where our liquid
unloading takes place at the Rayford factory for
the antiperspirant production. We unload our emollients in
liquid form from bulk tank trucks into these bulk tanks. They're about
100,000 pound tanks, and can be pumped
at 2 tons per minute directly into our
compounding department. NARRATOR: State-of-the-art
mixing equipment combines prescribed amounts of liquid
ingredients, fragrance, and aluminum compounds heated
to 158 degrees Fahrenheit. Conveyors carry empty
canisters ready to be filled with a hot
antiperspirant product. We actually have to turn
this canister upside-down. The way you buy it,
it'll be like this. The way we fill it,
it's actually like this. Now, when you look
inside the container, you see there's a seal. That not only
preserves the product, but gives us the ability
to fill from the bottom of the container. That gives that nice
dome shape on it, so it's very comfortable when
you apply it to your armpit. We then use a piston
displacement filler and push the product
into the canister. It leaves this filler and
heads to a chilling tunnel. We cool to about
25-degrees Celsius. That's actually to
stabilize the product, so it doesn't separate, and
all the ingredients stay very homogeneous throughout. So the canister is plugged
with the coated plug, and then it enters the labeler. We label first the
back of the canister, and then rotate it 180
degrees to label the front. The canister is inspected on
both sides by a camera system, to make sure the label's
in the proper position. If it's not, we reject
it on the far side. NARRATOR: Then a quick stop at
the lab for quality assurance. This is where all the finished
products come in and get tested before they are released
to the Walmarts, to the Targets of the world. We measure the active ingredient
concentration in here. We also check for the fragrance,
to make sure it smells as it's supposed to. NARRATOR: The stuff that makes
the grade is then packaged, palletized, wrapped,
and shipped. Now you're squeaky clean
enough to rule the world. But if you forgot to go
before you left the castle, thankfully in the big
city stands a mini kingdom with a throne of
stainless steel. Each year, over 8 million
residents, 43 million tourists, and countless commuters
cram into New York City. The area boasts close to 20,000
eateries, numerous hotels theaters, and museums. Yet this metropolis
has somehow managed to get the notorious reputation
as having nowhere to go. Public toilets have great
need in New York City because of the tremendous amount
of people and pedestrians that use the city at all times. It's almost sometimes
impossible to find a restaurant or
other facility to use during the course of your day. NARRATOR: New York City has only
about 1,200 public restrooms. That's nothing compared
to some other major cities like Singapore, which has
about half the population but nearly 30,000
public restrooms. So how are officials
finally addressing the eternal challenge
of going on the go? In early 2008, the
city of New York introduced the automatic pay
toilet, or APT, the latest in public restroom tech. The 6x11 foot pay potty
sits inconspicuously in Madison Square Park. For the low, low price
of $0.25, the user gets a generous 15 minutes
inside the tempered glass and stainless steel unit. Tossing a quarter in the APT
activates an electrical signal to the door, which is opened by
a reserve of air compression. There's a tank inside the
unit that has compressed air, and that activates a pneumatic
system that opens the door. NARRATOR: Once you're in,
you'll see the usual bathroom accouterments, plus some extras. The features of the APT are
the obvious features, including the commode, toilet paper,
the basin, the various soap and rinse water
dispensers, a hand dryer. But there's also comfort
features like nonslip flooring, a skylight, halogen lighting,
as well as heating and air conditioning for the winters
and the summers as well. NARRATOR: Since it's
unattended, the chamber incorporates some
innovative safety features. There's a battery backup
system, should there be a power failure. The door will
automatically open. The emergency buttons
in the APT are connected to a sophisticated
communication system. And these buttons actually when
pressed send a text message to two or more people,
and also it activates a two-way communication system. MAN: Good afternoon. Can I help you? Should this person
fall on the floor, they're located where
they best can reach them. NARRATOR: Weight load sensors
located under the floor serve a dual purpose. It's to detect an occupant,
but also to make sure that occupant falls within
certain weight thresholds, above 88 pounds and
below 551 pounds. The lower threshold is
intended to protect children, to make sure
they're accompanied, while the upper
limit is to make sure that a handicapped person
and their assistant can enter the unit but not
excessive numbers of people at the same time. NARRATOR: Unfortunately
for you slow-movers, there is the dreaded time limit. A warning alarm signals
when three minutes remain. And when time's up, ready or
not, the door slides open. Between users, the
APT jumps into action, with an automated 90 seconds
self-cleaning process that happens behind closed doors. The automatic pay toilet
unit finds its roots with the ancient
Roman public latrines. A trench with running water
below the stone benches carried away waste. And the enterprising
Roman Emperor Vespasian, who charged a fee for
use of these latrines, carried away lots of cash. After the fall of the empire and
its comforts, relieving oneself happened whenever,
wherever nature called. In 17th century
France, the nobility at the Palace of
Versailles, which was built without bathrooms,
did their business on the lawn, and perhaps even
in the stairwells. Sanitation and discretion
were of little concern. The Sun King himself
was known to go while riding in his coach,
with female passengers present. Today, when going on the
go, the greatest concern is picking up germs in what is
potentially one of the least sanitary environments. Hygiene is important, and
especially in today's world, where people are exposed to
so many other human beings all the time. NARRATOR: Imagine walking
into a public restroom and not actually having
to touch anything. Perfecting touch-free
public bathroom technology is big business. Companies like Sloan
and Kimberly-Clark manufacture motion
sensor-activated dispensers of toilet paper, soap,
and paper towels. Sensors on toilets and faucets
detect a user's presence or absence and
operate accordingly. But in most bathrooms,
there's still the matter of having
to touch paper towels, or the traditional
hot air dryer. The Dyson air blade, a
touch-free hand dryer, claims to reduce bacteria
and use less energy, drying in 10 to 12 seconds as
opposed to the 22 to 40 seconds of most other dryers. It employs the
Dyson digital motor. It spins faster than a
Formula One racing car engine, and produces enough air
pressure to dry hands without the need for heat. An infrared sensor
activates the dryer only when the hands are inserted,
so there's no wasted energy after you walk away. But will there ever be
a germ-free laboratory experience? Perhaps in the
bathroom of the future. In the bathroom of the
future, human necessity meets science fiction. Japanese bathroom
manufacturer Toto has become the undisputed
leader in high-tech toilets by combining form and function,
while taking personal hygiene to a whole new level. Unlike common toilets, Toto's
futuristic-looking Neorest model is tankless,
rimless, fully automated, and environmentally sound. And it offers a less
hands-on approach. The Sanagloss finish on
Toto's toilets and sinks is super smooth
at the nano level, eliminating crevices where
bacteria can accumulate. Toto's other uber
modern products include a digitally-controlled
air jet bathtub, that fills itself to your preset
temperature and depth settings. And if you're lonely,
it'll even talk to you. Hello. Filling the bath. Is drain closed? NARRATOR: How about some
running water sounds or music to mask embarrassing noises
emanating from the bathroom? No need to waste water on the
sound of a courtesy flush. Bathroom manufacturers
in the Far East are even working on toilet
models that could help relieve any medical concerns. Here's how they might work. On an intelligent toilet, a
wand with a small cup attached extends from the rim to
collect a sample of urine. The sample travels to
a sensor for analysis. The test results are transmitted
via the home's wireless network to the user's computer. So what other tech might we find
in the bathroom of tomorrow? Jacuzzi manufacturers
a towel-warming cabinet that heats up to 120 degrees. For those who need to check
their messages, the news, or the weather while primping,
there's a mirror from Samsung that doubles as a TV monitor. But gadgets aside, the
current bathroom trends lean toward indulgence
and awareness. Some of the challenges the
designers are facing today when they are designing these
products is to constantly come up with cutting-edge new
designs that work and deliver tremendous relaxation
as people expect, and still be
environmentally responsible. It's important that
in all the things that are designed
for the bathrooms now, that we watch
how much water we use. And people are consciously
aware of it and care about that. The bathroom is becoming
a place of retreat, a place to relax and rejuvenate. And there's really two
trends that are causing that. One is nesting. That's where more and more
people are staying home, spending their time and
energy and resources on those spaces and the products
that go into those spaces. And another one is spa visits. And the number of spa visits
are growing every year. And people want to create
that, that spa-like atmosphere, and get those products
into their home. NARRATOR: And these
tricked out bathrooms might just be scratching the
bacteria-repelling surface. Coming back from the
kitchen and bath show, seeing all the products
that are available, we probably haven't
seen anything yet. NARRATOR: Whether
you prefer high-tech, low-flow, or the lap of
luxury, scientists, designers, and engineers will keep
finding new ways to keep you comfortable and happy. And it just may change the way
you answer when nature calls. Goodbye.
