If you think about it, you probably pick up more germs after you wash your hands — by touching the dirty tap handle to close off the water flow — than before you washed them. This is especially true if you are in a public washroom. But kitchens also carry dangerous bacteria, such as salmonella from raw meat, that can cause severe sickness. It is encouraging that restaurants now have signs that encourage their staff and guests to first clean and dry their hands, and then use a paper towel to turn off the water at the tap. More water wastage — but better hygiene.
Now, Jasper Dekker, a student in the Master of Science in Industrial Design Graduation Project at the Univeristy of Technology Eindhoven, The Netherlands, has designed a tap that is controlled with hand gestures.
Using a high quality DuPont Corian design, the tap is controlled by simply waving your hands along the neck of the tap, the speed of movement indicating water volume desired, the right or left side to enable cold (right) or hot water (left), and toward or away from the tap to change the flow from a stream to a shower.”
One good question: how sensitive are the tap sensors and do we really want the cat to flood the house?
via Bit Rebels
More user interface of this kind is good news and will eventually bring “touchable hologram” user interface to our [or, more probably, our children’s] computers and, dare we hope, digital cameras of the future.
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