Gizmodo: restrooms

Seattle Flushes $5 Million Automated Public Restrooms for Major Loss [Auto Toilets]

Jack Loftus — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:30:00 EDT

I thought automated public pay toilets were a sure thing. I mean, auto-cleaning, high-tech robo toilets that allow the occupant to remain inside for as long as they want, and then clean up all the evidence after the fact... what could go wrong?! Oh right, hookers and drugs, that's what. Which is exactly why the five automated toilets in Seattle were recently sold off for a multi-million dollar loss. How big a loss? Well, when they were installed four years ago the toilets cost $5 million. This week, after an online auction, they sold for just $12,549.

The lucky buyer who took a load off for Seattle was Butch Behn, owner of Racecar Supply in Rochester, Wash. He plans to use two of the units at the South Sound Speedway. The other three will be resold or reused later. "It'd probably be good to have a couple around for spares. We get pretty busy at the track sometimes," he said (double entendre, anyone?).

The article over at the USA Today mentions nothing about whether or not the fine city of Seattle refurbished these things before sending them along. From the sounds of things that might be OK, as they were used for anything but nature's call. [USA Today]

Robotic Lady Bug Cleaning Machine May Replace Traditional Hygiene Technicians in Japanese Service Stations [Hygiene]

AddyDugdale — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 07:05:14 EST

This meter-high ladybug is a prototype robot cleaner but, if tests go well, could be the new face of washroom hygiene in Japan. As well as putting a nice shine to the bathroom floor with its scrubbing abilities, the light-up insect, which is being developed for NEXCO, has all sorts of other skills.

Hidden beneath the bug's silver skirts are obstacle-detection sensors, and a microphone housed in its antenna allow basic communication. Speech recognition software gives the bug basic conversation skills, and for those people brave enough to be seen in public talking to a three-foot high bug, it can report on local traffic conditions.

First port of call for the $3,000 Bug 'Bot is selected restrooms in highway service stations but, if all goes well, expect to see these giant insects ~~being joyridden down the hard shoulder at 3mph by if I ever get close enough to steal one~~ in hotel bathrooms and other public areas by March 2009. [Yomiuri Online via Pink Tentacle]

Urilift: Pee in the Street (Without a Ticket) [Press]

Mark Wilson — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 12:29:29 EST

The Urilift is Europe's $75,000 solution to drunken men peeing in the streets...in which drunken men still pee in the street...

The urinal doesn't enclose, meaning you still see people peeing, but have the peece of mind (couldn't help it) that they are peeing in a sanitary, regulated area. When the urinals are not in use (daytime), they are lowered to the underground.

Hit the jump for a fantastic, voyeuristic pee video that also demonstrates the Urilift in action.

I could watch this all day...because it's funny...– Mark Wilson

The World's Most High Tech Urinal [johnchow]