I have seen the future and the future is filled with robot bathrooms. You've seen the green little building at the corner of Charles Allen and 10th St. If it's sunny, there's a line of people, some curious gawkers, others dancing the always recognizable pee-pee dance. What kind of E-Ticket curiosity could lead to such a line? Are they queuing up for Hannah Montana tickets? Perhaps a Disneyesque ride? My friends, they're lining up to see the frakin' robot bathroom.
The ominous silver door slides open, Star Trek-style, to reveal a high-tech room where touching surfaces is pared down to a minimum. Of course, I did notice the signs were all in braille which found me pitying the poor blind guy who's got to feel his way around the walls of a public bathroom. Nevertheless, the door slides open where you are greeted with a gentle, but prodding metallic voice commanding you to press the blue button and shut the door. You have 20 seconds to comply.
Once the door is closed, the disembodied robot bathroom voice informs you that you have ten minutes to do your business. Programmed as such, no loitering or heroin fixes here. No sex either, but only because I wouldn't know what to do with the other eight minutes.
Blue buttons abound within this iron giant. Press this for toilet paper. Press this for paper towels. Press this to find Sarah Connor. The strains of Burt Bacharach's "What the World Needs Now" (no lie) float through the air as you face the stainless steel Fiesta Bowl. Similarly, the sink is a stainless steel indentation in the wall that selectively spurts out soap, water and hot air, depending on your hand placement. The toilet flushes either when you start washing your hands or when the door opens to let you out. Yes, depending on when the toilet flushes, the line outside will know if you washed your hands, so wash those filthy things, Skippy. We know where they've been.
Press the blue button to let yourself out. Make sure to stand facing the door when it slides open and ask the crowd outside, "Excuse me, is this the sixth floor?" They love that, especially the guy whose been waiting for 15 minutes doing the pee-pee dance two people back.
Every few visitors or so, the door will stay shut for an extended period of time (a few minutes) while the bathroom (or at least the toilet) cleans itself. I think that's what was happening at least. It was either doing that, or it was plotting the destruction of the human race. Robots are like that, you know.
So flying cars and jet packs? Not yet. Moon bases and time travel? Not quite. But the future of robot bathroom technology is right here in Piedmont Park. And it is beautiful.
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