RFID is in the toilet
We love any advances in toilet technology because, well it's the only room we can enter at Engadget HQ without escort. Today, AquaOne Technologies announces the H2Orb, an RFID-enabled water monitoring device that will recognize when your toilet is leaking, overflowing, or has an "open flapper" [insert joke here]. The device consists of three components: a tank sensor, a bowl sensor, and a control unit which includes an RFID reader and is powered by a standard coin cell battery which needs replacement every 5 years. If a sensor detects a problem, the RFID tag transmits this to the control unit which can emit an (audible) alarm or shut off the water supply. Think of all the tortured high-school freshmen this could save! If the alarm is a problem then an optional pager with RFID reader (for hotel housekeepers or pervs) can detect a toilet's status when within the 6-foot transmission range of the sensors. That's a nice start, but we'd like to see this integrated into a systems management solution - HP, you listening? The H2Orb will be available to the public beginning late August 2005, and retail for $89.95US - pagers will be priced separately.
