The smart restrooms made their debut at LAX Wednesday. (Tooshlights)
Los Angeles has debuted a set of “smart restrooms” in its American Airlines’ Terminal 4 to ease the stress of having to use public restrooms.
“We’ve all been there. You’re in the restroom and someone shakes the door, peeks through the crack, or looks under the stall partition to see your feet,” said Allen Klevens, CEO and founder of Tooshlights, Fox KIDY reported. “Bathroom lines get long because people don’t know which stalls are available.”
The new Tooshlight bathrooms feature lights above each stall that are connected to “smart latches.” The latches send signals to the light bulbs, which glow red or green depending on if the restroom is occupied or vacant, respectively.
THESE ARE THE DIRTIEST SPOTS IN AN AIRPORT (HINT: NOT INCLUDING THE BATHROOM)
However, indicating which restrooms are free to use is not all this technologically-advanced bathroom does. It also collects real-time data to inform the airport when restrooms are busiest.
“The real-time data we will be receiving through our new smart restroom technology will help us respond quicker when issues occur and gain base-line data for daily and weekly restroom usage, so we can better plan and deploy our resources, including custodians and maintenance workers,” said Michael Christensen, deputy executive director of the Facilities and Maintenance Group at LAWA, Fox KIDY reported. “Just like a physical traffic management system, these smart restrooms will allow us to do our job better and more efficiently.”
If the trial is successful, LAX plans to roll out the smart restrooms to the rest of the airport. LAX officials are hoping this will help “provide a higher level of service to the traveling public” by offering cleaner and consistently working facilities.
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Other airports are also interested in gaining feedback about their restrooms usage. CEO Klevens has said at least five other airports have signed-up to try Tooshlights.