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Linux in my Toilet

Japanese Toilet The embedded Linux revolution is well underway taking a strong foot hold in everything from GPS devices to cell phones and there are even those who install Linux on their iPods. Linux will be a part of everyones life in no time. In fact most people encounter Linux everyday in one form or another from cashiers, car navigation systems, and there is even a team at Calvin College building a Linux based stethoscope! There is no denying it Linux is here to stay and will increasingly become more and more unavoidable in daily life.

But how far will embedded Linux go? Are there any limitations to what can be done with embedded forms of Linux and there applications? Perhaps there are no limits – only creative solutions. Having lived in Japan for some time I have noticed the Japanese Toilet to be very computerized and now I here from my friends that Toto is doing work with embedded forms of Linux for running micro fuzzy logic on these toilets to test your leavings with lasers to form a spectrum of what is in your waste. The toilet will then process this information and give you health advice and even tell you what foods you specifically should avoid! Now that is a Linux embedded machine I would have never of dreamed of if I didn't live in Japan for some time. Toto does say that all of these mico fuzzy logic experiments are just prototypes and they are not releasing any official information yet. Nonetheless I find it fascinating that such experiments are being undertaken.

How about taking the same idea and applying it to an idea most Americans would be very interested in and apply the same concepts to your daily cup of coffee? What if your coffee machine had fuzzy logic controlled by Linux and used lasers to get information off of the grinds or beans you placed into the vessel and adjusted rate of drip, temperature, and pressure accordingly? Imagine the perfect cup of coffee each AM with no effort at all except the time needed to fill the machine with water. Perhaps even the option for you to pre-program your desired settings based upon the kind of grind or bean? Similarly imagine a microwave that truly is fully automatic and produces perfect food each time using the same methods? The options are truly limitless when you start applying Linux applications to daily life.

What are your thoughts about embedded Linux? Where would you embed it if you could? What products would you like to see? Chances are someone somewhere is working on it. This truly is a brave new world and the year of Linux!

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