Discussion
Saw this photo on LinkedIn.
It's quite a clever idea! Rather than having to press potentially dirty buttons in a toilet to record your feedback, you can use a gesture instead. Nifty!
Except… Here's how they describe it on their website.
> No specialist hardware. No complex setup. Just plug in a camera-enabled device and you're live.
Oh. Good. A 24/7 video stream live from the loos. What could possibly go wrong with that?
@Edent strangely enough, if you do a search you'll find a lot of toilet flushing apps
@Edent Who's this? Oh, it's my good friend, Mr. Sharpie! Mr. Sharpie has so many cool tricks, like protecting your privacy! Thanks, Mr. Sharpie!
@Edent Yes, a briliant way to get at least one camera in the toilets area.....
@Edent guys, this is a conspiracy to create a database of butts. They' won't need your face anymore because they can get the shape of your butt and recognize you from there :))
@mahadevank I think you're on to something!!
@Edent That sounds to me like someone with an agenda attempting to justify why a device in the loos is a good thing. Weirdos.
@Edent ohh, so they need camera to record gesture... why cant they put 3 sensors. Top, right, bottom and wave of the hand would indicate decision? XDD the camera in peee peee station seems more like a weird fetish than actual solution to a problem.
Also why do I need to press buttons if toilets are clean? Just fucking clean them everyday XDD
@Edent say, where is this, or which is the linkedin profile publishing it?
@Edent How Innovative! What will they think of next? Impromptu slice of life video subscriptions?
@Edent Does it recognize middle finger gestures?
@simondassow I wanna see if it can tell that I'm mooning it.
@Edent What if I don’t want a camera in a public washroom?
@LabSpokane probably just piss outside on the floor?
@Edent Oh, so it’s a British train.
@Edent This is a good way to discourage feedback, and encourage middle fingers.
This will prove less effective than the buttons.
@Edent You can read gestures with capacitative sensors that don't passively record while they wait for a trigger.
@Edent you could run the visual recognition locally on the device, the video would never leave the device. But even for that you have to trust the company..
...
Wha...
...
I'm sorry...
Why... Would _anyone_ want this?
WHAT HAPPENED TO MOTION SENSORS THAT ARE NOT CAMERAS?!
👀
@401matthall how do you solve the problem?
Seriously?
I'd identify the problem as "want to flush toilet without touching".
We've had motion sensors on toilets for... Wow... At least 3 decades, I think?
If there's _another_ problem it's not made clear by the graphic.
@Edent Password for remote ssh access: "jeepers creepers look at them peepers"
@Edent I'm sorry, but ...
What the actual fuck? Reviews on bathrooms? We've gone this low already? I thought we had at least another decade before they ask people to review taking a shit.
@KittenKoder I'm not sure if you've been to a public bathroom in a large venue recently, but these type of surveys are reasonably common.
It's a low effort way to see if people are happy with the state of the bogs.
@Edent But it's a bathroom, do people really spend that much time in them?
@KittenKoder again, that's not what's being asked here. The owners want to know if there's enough soap & loo roll, if the locks are broken etc.
People judge venues on the quality of their toilets.
I'm not arguing that asking for feedback is bad. I'm saying pointing a live camera into the loos is probably not going to end well.
@Edent I went poking around their website and thought "that doesn't seem right"
But perhaps it does?
@Edent why not just have the QR code go to an online survey?
@Fractal618 it literally does. Scan and you'll see.
But, also, who wants to wave a camera around in a loo?
@Edent That's fucking stupid, considering that public toilets with motion sensors that already solve this problem much more simply and cheaply have been a commercial technology since like the early 2000s.
Fucking hate the collective amnesia that makes this kind of marketing viable.
Also, even way before motion sensors, brass handles have done a pretty good job of killing bacteria. Still waiting for brass touch surfaces to be mandated for commercial buildings.
@Edent I know I'm out of touch (pun not intended) because I think QR code menus are sheer insanity already, but do people seriously whip out their phones to scan QR codes *inside* a stall?
@landelare In a stall? Sure. Who cares?
By the hand dryer or sinks? That's a different kettle of fish.
@Edent I’d also like to know how socially acceptable it is to get your phone out in camera mode in the toilets to scan a qr code?
@Edent
Why does everything have to beg for goddamn feedback?
The entire concept is beneath contempt regardless of the input method.
It's a fucking toilet!
@electric_gumball what's the best way to let management know that a toilet is broken, dirty, or out of soap?
@Edent @electric_gumball Even assuming good intent, there are better solutions, like the food pedal one proposed here.
An alternative: just simple IR sensors pointing down under raised buttons far from where people might be undressed (because users should not need to distinguish an IR sensor from a camera taking pictures from then).
@Edent
That's what you pay cleaners for.
@Edent they could just swap the buttons for foot pedals...
I'm imagining the peak grumbling at the lines at sports stadiums, while someone whips out their phone to press a button with possibly compromised hands...
This is not speedy or productive.
Sink, water, soap... is right there.
** no flush it is, then...
@Edent We Value Your Privacy 
@Edent It's a shame that it'll probably interpret 🖕 as positive feedback 🙂
@Edent Good god. Who would people buy this? Haven't we had IR sensors for toilet flushes available for like, thirty years already? Which _didn't_ film people pooping?
@ConvergeToNaught it isn't for flushing…
Just use foot pedals like trains do?
@FediThing what kind of speeds are you getting on a peddle powered train?!?
@Edent @FediThing Low-key I dream of a super-streamlined lightweight rail vehicle with all seats in tandem, and everybody gets pedals.
Looking at speed records for streamlined human-powered vehicles, I wonder how the advantage of lower rolling resistance and multiple "engines" would stack against the disadvantage of riders who aren't insanely fit.
It's going to be tough beating the appeal of "just get the customer to buy a cheap tablet with a decent camera" as the only h/w procurement requirement.
Foot pedals are a nice idea but they, and even just the original buttons, require the vendor to sell customized hardware. Hmmpf.
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