Touchless Tech

[AARPRachelA]

I recently got a touchless soap dispenser, and let me tell you, it's a game-changer. Touchless tech is having a moment during the pandemic. Not only does it make life easier, but it also helps to stop the spread of germs. Have you invested in any touchless technologies? What are they?

Learn more about how touchless technology can make life easier.

[2Papa]

I went to the restroom in a public complex recently.  I opened the door by touching a button with my jacket covered elbow.  I did what I needed to do and the fixture flushed itself when I walked away.  I walked over to the sink and the water turned itself on.  I reached for the soap dispenser and it shot out some soap onto my hand.  I washed my hands and reached for a paper towel and one presented itself to my hand.  I walked over and elbowed another button to exit.  When I got outside I thought to myself I completed the task without touching anything in there!

[Ok2bclever]

Every room's lighting in my house is controlled by voice command through Alexa devices. Which eliminates touching light switches. It also allows me to play music, get forecasts, set timers, alarms and reminders without touching anything.

Wanting to take this further, especially with the pandemic and emphasizing frequent and thorough hand washing I have ordered a touchless liquid soap dispenser as you have. I also ordered a touchless kitchen trash can that is operated by motion or verbal commands to open, close and remain open.

My next purchase will be a bathroom faucet that works touchless. Faucet handles get touched dirty and then again just after cleaning your hands (unless you use a paper towel to turn them off) which defeats the cleaning of the hands.

[EricC28201]

I have never invested in touchless technology for myself, but having worked as a Cleaner of Facilities when I was in High School, I appreciate all the Touchless Tech that can now be put in Public Restrooms.

[fffred]

Right you are!  Automatic, ummm, urinals. Even toilets flush automagically. And touchless faucets and soap dispensers!

Now if they just had automatic doors!

[fffred]

I've never invested in touchless technologies. Although perhaps I'm not understanding this as you intended; I've never invested in the stock of any such companies, though I have bought such products over the years.

I've long been sort of a squeamish person, even as a kid. I really didn't want to touch surfaces that showed a lot of fingerprints...that was the evidence presented to my squeamish tummy of other kids or adults doing rude things with their fingers and then touching the surface that I was now expected to touch... yuck!!

I'd always done things like use a paper towel to exit the door of public bathrooms, maybe used a knuckle or a pen on things like ATMs or pushbutton phones. I was really grossed out some years back when my bank installed an atm with a glass capacitive touch panel...all you did was touch, no button-pushing required. That surface was so disgusting and I would not touch it with my bare finger. lol, as they say.

And I suppose my Monk-like impulses have stood me in good stead over the years, and now in the pandemic days. ("Monk" is a reference to the television detective Monk who had multiple phobias of contracting things from surfaces and who was always cleaning.)

Now here are two "touchless" items people may not think of:

(1) I have installed a number of light switches throughout my home that sense when someone enters the room and then turn the lights on. And they stay on until the room is no longer occupied. This is greatly convenient. We walk through the house and the lights come on, and they go off a few minutes later. These switches are installed in the laundry room, several bathrooms, and a number of hallways and closets. This is really convenient, no fumbling for light switches in the dark (and have you ever looked closely at those switches? full of dirt and grime and crud!) These would not be good for a dedicated depression-era light-turner-outer like my sister, who turns on limited lights and they are turned off before leaving the room. However, with the extremely low power usage of LED bulbs any excess power usage is minimal. And, indeed, lighting technologies like incandescents, halogens, and fluorescents (and even LED) will suffer in terms of life span with increasing number of on-off cycles, so minimizing the cycling has energy relevance too.

(2) Long ago I had a speech-to-text software. The hardware was not quite there yet ("I...had...to...speak...like...a...robot..."). But nowadays this touchless technology is in my iPad, my Android phone, and so many other places. I use it with email, with messaging applications, and on my laptop. It's not perfect, I sometimes have to go back to edit a little bit and add punctuation. Still, it's really nice to have and use.