Category Archives: 3-D Design

Is a Smart Toilet in Your Future?

Is a smart toilet in your future?

When personal computers first appeared to on the market, there weren’t many people asking whether cars would have embedded computers. Today, a luxury sedan has somewhere around 60 embedded computers. Yes, the Internet of Things is expanding, and that means we’ll be seeing more and more smart devices. Devices like these will also be communicating with each other so that they may work together to bring us more advanced information age benefits.

So, will toilets eventually have embedded processors? Why change a good thing? Why add a processor that will need software updates? Why add electric power to a convenience that can function just fine without electric power? These are very reasonable questions, and here are 5 possible answers.

1) A smart toilet can include an automatic flush function. A flushed toilet is always more presentable that an un-flushed one. So, having an automatic flush function ensures that toilets are presented in the best possible light. Self-flushing toilets already exist and can be found in public restrooms. Assuming this functionality becomes popular in the home, the power needed for other smart functions will be available.

2) A smart toilet can measure usage patterns. By measuring how long someone is taking on the toilet, the smart toilet could remind the user to avoid taking too much time. This could be done with and audible alert or more discretely by sending a text message to the user’s smart phone, reminding the user of the possible health consequences of prolonged toilet use. To send this information by text messages, the smart toilet would need to identify the user.

3) A smart toilet can measure a user’s regularity. Once the smart toilet can identify the user, the smart toilet can also measure the regularity of the user, reporting trends and suggesting possible dietary changes to improve regularity (e.g. drink more fluids, eat more fiber, etc.). In order to perform this function properly, the smart toilet might also need to communicate with other toilets.

4) Similarly, a smart toilet could measure urinary frequency. For male users, this function could be useful for detecting enlargement of the prostate.

5) A smart toilet can also measure other healthcare information. When traditional toilets are flushed, useful healthcare information is lost. With more advanced sensors, a smart toilet can detect abnormal amounts of blood, or biochemical changes in the waste. This can be helpful in the early detection of cancer.

Of course, there will probably be resistance to the idea of smart toilets. Some, perhaps most, people won’t like the idea of toilets recording their bathroom habits or having access to their healthcare information. Still, there are some practical and, perhaps, life saving benefits to be gained. Consequently, when Smart Toilets start appearing, the manufacturers will need to assure their customers that these devices are secure and that their personal healthcare information will be kept private. If buyers are convinced, smart toilets might eventually become more popular than the dumb toilets on the market today, and that’s an enormous market.

A smart toilet that’s already on the market…
http://singularityhub.com/2009/05/12/smart-toilets-doctors-in-your-bathroom/

Video of a smart toilet getting hacked…
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/08/15/heres-what-it-looks-like-when-a-smart-toilet-gets-hacked-video/

Meanderings on Dancing, Dogs, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence

Dancing Robots

To see dancing robots… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t1NWH6G1f0

After watching a dancer express herself so beautifully, conveying sensitivity, emotion and creativity, one can’t help but notice how far robotics has to go. Sure… the robotic Atlas from Boston Dynamics is amazing, but it will probably be a long time before people will pass on the real thing to watch robots dance for pure aesthetics. Similarly, when one considers the skill with which Fido can jump into the air and catch a ball, the dog certainly puts the latest robotic marvel in its place.

Still, the idea of graceful robots may not seem that far fetched. The senses of joint position, position in space, space and time and gravity in humans are impressive, but machines can sense these things. The skeletal/muscular capabilities of our bodies are also impressive, but, again, machines might generate similar motions. The big difference is what is happening in the brain.

Imagine that we built a robot in a humanoid form, and that we gave each part a computer. For example, the head had a computer in it; the left forearm had a computer in it, and so on. Each of these computers would be responsible for controlling the artificial muscles and monitoring the sensors contained within that body part. This is possible, and it has already been done. Naturally, in such a configuration, to achieve coordinated motion of the whole, there would need to be a great deal of communications going on between the various computer/body parts. This seems like it should be possible, since we can transmit vast amounts of data quite quickly around such a machine using fiber optic technology. If each computer had capabilities like that of an iPhone, it might make great use of those accelerometers, always knowing which direction is down, knowing where it is and how it is being accelerated. Add the high capacity communications, and perhaps each body part could know where it is and how it is moving relative to the inertial frame and to the other body parts.

To get to a graceful expression, however, it seems a few things are still needed…

the algorithms that are going to allow all those computers communicate with one another,
the instincts,
the desire,
the ability to set goals,
the ability to learn from mistakes,
the instructor’s training,
the practice,
the self-discipline,
the dream,
the passion,
the inspired music and choreography,
the feelings,
and finally, the encouraging applause from an appreciative audience who sees greatness in the performance.

or, in the case of the dog, a master’s pat on the head and piece of bacon.

Happy New Year!

Creepy Robot Spider

To see robotic spider move naturally…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfiHOpv6HtI

Prototyping with Stereolithography

A group of designers built a number of 3D models of a toy robot using Rhino. Next, they chose to build a reduced scale mock-up of their favorite design. 3-D printing is a great tool for rapid prototype development, because there isn’t the wait for tooling normally associated with other methods. The 3-D printing process the designers chose was stereolithography. This is was their model…

Rhino Model of Toy Robot

In stereolithography, an elevator floor is submersed just below the surface of a vat of a liquid polymer. This substance has the characteristic that it will harden when exposed to a laser light. The laser light is precisely focused and aimed to harden the liquid at specific points. When the floor is just below the surface of the liquid, these hardened points will stick to the floor. By scanning the beam over the surface of the fluid, a 2-D pattern of hardened points may be arranged on the floor. After this is done, the floor is lowered slightly into the vat. The laser scans the surface of the liquid again, attaching another 2-D layer of points onto the last layer. This process is repeated, again and again, lowering the floor with each iteration. After the last iteration, a 3-D form, consisting of stacked 2-D layers, can be found immersed in that vat. The floor is then raised from the vat with the finished product resting atop.

This was the result of the designers’ effort, a 3-D prototype robot with no arms…

Toy Robot Prototype

What went wrong? When building prototypes with stereolithography, it is sometimes necessary to also design a scaffold to provide a layer for the other layers to “rest upon.” The designers knew this, but designed a scaffold lacking the necessary rigidity to support the heavy robot arms. Consequently, the scaffold flexed too far before the arms could be connected to the shoulders.

So, when using stereolithography for your next rapid prototype, remember to include a sufficiently strong scaffold to support the overhanging members. Otherwise, your rapid prototype might not be prototyped as rapidly as you would have hoped.

NetChime.com

Smart Device Design

Words and thought from NetChime Research LLC

Category Archives: 3-D Design

Is a Smart Toilet in Your Future?

Meanderings on Dancing, Dogs, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence

Prototyping with Stereolithography