Toto expands touchless bathroom tech and debuts a health-analyzing toilet at CES 2021
Toto is a staple in the bathroom fixture market, and this year at CES the company highlighted new models of touchless technology, as well as the concept of a wellness toilet that analyzes your, ahem, output.
Wellness toilet
Let's be clear, this toilet is anticipated to come to market "in the next several years" according to Toto, but the concept is intriguing even today. It's definitely in development and probably not a far-fetched concept, now that smart toilets and health trackers are commonplace at tech events.
The Wellness Toilet is a Toto concept that senses and analyzes the user's "body and key outputs" to provide recommendations on ways to improve their health. In a connected app, you'd be able to view your stats, and see those improvement recommendations. Toto gives the example of a recommendation to add more salmon to your diet.
Toto also points to the unique combination of skin sensing (yes, butts) and human waste as the toilet's advantage in the wellness landscape. If you've ever provided samples at your doctor's office, you know there's a wealth of information just waiting to be gleaned from fecal matter.
There aren't many more specifics on the tech, data privacy or app security Toto is planning for the Wellness Toilet, but kudos to the nearly century-old company for such a forward-looking concept.
More touchless toilet tech
Kohler recently announced an expansion of its touchless toilet and faucet line, keen on helping people avoid germs as much as possible. Toto came to CES with a similar goal, announcing more touchless products. Unlike the Wellness Toilet, these are products available this year.
Toto's Washlet bidet and seat combination goes back to the 1980s, when it first came to market. Now, the company sells millions of units each year and just announced two new models of the Washlet and Washlet Plus.
This year, the company is upgrading its entry-level Washlet C2 and slightly fancier Washlet C5 models. The two new units have a sleeker design and are easier to clean. Both models will also have what Toto calls EWater Plus, a system that cleans the bidet wand inside and out before and after each use.
Both new Washlets can come as Washlet Plus models, meaning they connect to a Toto toilet and make use of Toto's other cleaning technologies like premist, in which the bowl's interior is sprayed with a fine mist of water to reduce mold and mildew's ability to stick, and tornado flush, a powerful and quiet flush that lets you choose between light and heavy water use. The new Washlet C2 models will range from $675 to $776 and the C5 from $780 to $897.
