CES 2024: Smart Tech Aims to Be Number One in Your Bathroom
Every smart tech brand makes robot vacuums and security cameras, but until recently, the bathroom was mysteriously missing from the smart home ecosystem. Brands have certainly tried their hand, but it’s been a lot of touch-sensitive taps and not a lot of real smart features. CES 2024 changes that narrative, bringing with it a slew of innovations that might make you feel more excited about going to the restroom.
Smart technology in the bathroom
Bidets have never had the same power over American toilets as they do elsewhere, but the bidet market had a moment during the 2020 toilet paper shortage. As Americans began to enjoy the luxury of heated seats in the winter, the market opened up. .
At CES 2024, Bemis introduced the Bemis BB-1200 toilet seat ($399), which includes features such as a warm water bidet, an air dryer, a night light, and a wireless smartphone-style remote control. Bemis finally understands that you’re probably on your phone anyway, so you can use it to fully customize your bidet through their app.
Of course, if you have some extra cash, you can skip the bidet and go with a fully smart toilet. Kohler’s new Numi 2.0, $8,625, includes a suite of spa-like cleaning and drying features, UV cleaning and heated seats. It also features ambient lighting and a speaker to give you the feeling of being on a throne. Kohler has a few other more reasonably priced models: the Innate Smart Toilet ($2,550), the Eir Smart Toilet ($5,325), and the PureWash E930 Bidet Seat, which is, relatively speaking, reasonable at $1,290.
Technology for analyzing what’s in the bowl
Last year, two companies introduced toilet analysis technology. Withings U-Scan is a device that lives in the toilet and monitors nutrition and vitamin levels, metabolic status and even ovulation cycles by “detecting a large number of biomarkers found in urine.” The Vivoo sensor is placed in the recess of the toilet seat and uses extensive experience in urine analysis to report health problems and provide dietary recommendations. All this happens within 90 seconds, and the results are delivered directly to your smartphone.
Both companies returned to CES this year: Withings introduced Beamo , a portable body scanner that will replace the digital thermometer in your bathroom; and Vivoo introduced a home UTI test .
Let’s bring spa treatments home
At CES this year, Kohler took a shower and used smart technology to transform her home bathroom into a spa. The new Anthem+ Digital Control, an update to the existing Anthem ($441), is essentially a display center for your bathroom, monitoring water temperature, pressure and other settings from a sleek wall-mounted screen. Anthem+ can be connected to different types of shower heads, as well as other connected devices in your bathroom, such as those that control lights and music.
This type of technology extends to the Stillness Bath, Kohler’s line of smart bathtubs that fill, heat and drain themselves. You can create an immersive experience with light, scent, and mist that will help you relax—which you’ll probably need if you just spent $17,000 on a bathtub.
It’s important to note that the core of a truly smart bathroom is the smart valves that need to be placed within the waterline itself. This is a major upgrade for most people (unless your builder has given you easy access to the line), but once you have smart valves, controlling them via an app or physical interface becomes easier.
Utility management
Kohler has complemented its bathroom with Atmo , a connected bathroom fan that analyzes temperature and humidity to activate, although you can also schedule the fan and lights, set custom color temperatures, and generally customize its operation to suit your needs.
If this all sounds like a good way to use up a lot of water, it is. As a result, water usage tracking in addition to leakage monitoring is also becoming a growing market. Moen has reintroduced the Flo Integrated Water Monitor (starting at $500) at CES. Flo uses artificial intelligence to learn your patterns and claims to detect even minor leaks and can shut off the water to prevent damage. A fact that I found interesting: the company claims that 60% of Flo users discover a leak they weren’t aware of before within the first 30 days of use.
The sharing economy finds its final frontier – bathrooms
And this is not just a home toilet. The app, called Flush , will monetize commercial bathrooms in restaurants, hotels and cafes by creating a pay-as-you-go system. On the one hand, the idea of having access to a network of toilets that are usually closed with a “Paying Customers Only” sign is attractive, but seems to be a big problem for people suffering from homelessness who rely on this network of non-monetized toilets. . Flush promises to keep admission costs under $10 for now and uses a two-way rating system for guests and bathrooms to keep everyone fair.
The most connected room in your home
The point ( pause for laughter ) is that all the major home systems—electricity, water, and ventilation—are found in the bathroom. It’s a health hub, a sanctuary, and it’s time for smart technology to bring us all some relief.