There are no items more useful or ignored than toilets—although it is completely impossible to live in the modern world without them, they tend not to be glorified for obvious reasons. Toilets have developed much over the years from being simple holes in the ground to becoming a whole new breed of modern, highly hygienic machines. A couple of Japanese companies have single-handedly revolutionized toilets by allowing these objects to embrace developments in the field of high-tech. What do these dream toilets offer the casual user—and is it worth upgrading?
Self-washing toilets are one of the most interesting inventions yet—they rotate the seat after each usage to clean and disinfect the area. This avoids accumulation of unwanted grime and considerably reduces required maintenance. It also single handedly solves the problem of women and men sharing toilets in the same home—the seat will always remain clean. Another option in the same vein would be to install an automated paper toilet seat replacer: one touch of a button and your seat has a fresh toilet paper cover.
A slightly more humorous feature is the modern “bottom-washer” mechanism—this has allowed for the development of hybrid bidet-toilets. They will, as stated, wash your bottom and then dry it with blow-dryers. Although not for everyone, some will enjoy these convenient and effective new toilets.
Some manufacturers have brought toilets to the next level—Matsushita’s “smart toilet,” for example, will check your blood pressure, temperature, and blood sugar levels to make sure you remain in great health. There are even toilets with button-activated artificial flushing sounds—to mask noisy bodily functions.
Although to many high-tech toilets will remain a joke, to others it is important to create the most comfortable experience possible—after all, a lot of our time is spent on toilets.