Interactive Urinals

May 20th, 2006

Industrial Designer Marcel Neundörfer has designed a urinal that features a pressure-sensitive display screen for some gaming fun in restrooms.

When relieving yourself into this interactive urinal, you launch a mini-game that focuses on a target, with your stream acting as the input device. By targeting a specific area, you are prompted to control a character or object on the screen. In addition, the benefit of this interactive urinal is that people now really focus on hitting the urinal and not outside, as Neundörfer explains:

The reduced size of the “target” improves restroom hygiene and saves on cleanings costs (like the “fly in the urinal” at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport). It also makes a trip to the urinal “fun and games” – more than just a necessary nuisance.

We now wonder why Nintendo spent so much money on designing a freehand controller when every man already has a revolutionary controller.

Story from teamxbox

The You’re In Control (Urine Control)

An MIT project from a few years ago, ‘You’re In Control’ system uses computation to enhance the act of urination. Sensors in the back of a urinal detect the position of impact of a stream of urine, enabling the user to play interactive games on a screen mounted above the urinal.

See Video

Pissoir

Allan Giddy and Steven Greenwood , in 2002 used pre-existing urinals in a gallery toilet sensitised to allow participants (both male & female) to draw using their urine. As the urine passes through a light field it is tracked by computer. The resulting line drawings are traced life-size in real-time on monitors in an adjacent gallery space. The colour of each line drawing is determined by the pH value of the drawer’s urine. Each completed drawing is then uploaded automatically onto a website. This work celebrates the private, intimate, DIY act of urination as a creative activity. It provides all participants with, as it were, a canvas, giving them the opportunity to draw/paint their own works of art. Urine incident upon a sensor is sampled for its unique pH level, giving each participant the chance to leave his/her own colour pH signature for the first time.

via wmmna

Entry Filed under: Devices,Interactive

10 Comments Add your own

  • 1. ben hanbury  |  May 25th, 2006 at 12:26 pm

    oh my gosh, I have a strange desire to experience the joys of urinal gaming!

  • 2. A geek’s diary &raq&hellip  |  May 28th, 2006 at 1:34 pm

    [...] Come scritto qui, l’orinatoio è pressure-sensitive; il dispositivo di input è… il proprio “stream”. Puntando il “flusso” in un’area specifica comincia un mini gioco basato su obiettivi. L’area ridotta di gioco fa in modo che le persone si concentrino nel non fare andare il proprio “stream” al di fuori dell’orinatoio. [...]

  • 3. TRAViS  |  July 5th, 2006 at 11:03 am

    This would be great at a sports bar…or a gay club…

  • 4. svdk  |  July 9th, 2006 at 7:37 pm

    does it work with other liquids ?… hum
    /me disappears in a mysterious cloud

  • 5. BlogueIsso! » Arqui&hellip  |  July 12th, 2006 at 6:24 am

    [...] [...]

  • 6. MediaArtExcursion »&hellip  |  July 13th, 2006 at 5:17 pm

    [...] Interactive Architecture dot Org ist ein Weblog das sich mit dem Trend beschäftigt, reale, anfassbareArchitektur mit virtueller, digitaler Interaktivität zu koppeln. BloggerRuairi Glynn (der an der Vartlett School of Architecture am University College in London studiert) sagt, er sei schon immer von interaktive und multimedialen Räumen fasziniert gewesen: “Interactive Architecture is an extension of that dealing at the cutting edge of digital technology”. Aber wann ist Architektur interaktiv – ist ein Block Zement schon ein Hypermedium? Glynn hat es sich zur Aufgabe gemacht, dieser Frage auf den Grund zu gehen. Seiner Meinung nach muss interaktive Architektur das Potential haben, mit Hilfe digitaler Systeme unseren Lebensraum zu erfassen, Entscheidungen darüber zu treffen, und den Raum dann entsprechend der eigenen Programmierung zu beeinflussen. Das Spektrum reicht dabei vom Interaktiven Urinal bis hin zum interaktiven Kissen. [...]

  • 7. Bibliothek der reich bebi&hellip  |  July 17th, 2006 at 9:43 am

    [...] Spielekonsole und Urinal werden eins! Zumindest wurde nun ein Urinal vorgestellt, das ber eine druckspezifische Einheit verfgt, die es ermglicht mittels zielgerichtetem Strahl (und durch Variation des Drucks) Elemente auf einem Bildschirm zu steuern. Ob es dafr nur Geschicklichkeitsspiele oder auch Ballerspiele gibt wei ich nicht, denkbar ist es aber. Oder ob man auch gegeneinander pinkeln h spielen kann, oder im Team? Man darf sich also zuknftig nicht wundern wenn man beim Betreten von sanitren Anlagen jemanden pltzlich schreien hrt: “Ich piss euch alle weg”! [via interactivearchitecture-dot-org] Fun, Internet [...]

  • 8. Arkiva  |  August 9th, 2006 at 7:45 pm

    Wow, all i would need is gaming fridge and i could perform all nescessary functions without having to stop gaming.

    Man I love life!

  • 9. Playful » Interacti&hellip  |  August 19th, 2006 at 4:08 pm

    [...] Industrial Designer Marcel Neundörfer has designed a urinal that features a pressure-sensitive display screen for some gaming fun in restrooms. When relieving yourself into this interactive urinal, you launch a mini-game that focuses on a target, with your stream acting as the input device. By targeting a specific area, you are prompted to control a character or object on the screen. In addition, the benefit of this interactive urinal is that people now really focus on hitting the urinal and not outside, as Neundörfer explains: The reduced size of the “target” improves restroom hygiene and saves on cleanings costs (like the “fly in the urinal” at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport). It also makes a trip to the urinal “fun and games” – more than just a necessary nuisance. We now wonder why Nintendo spent so much money on designing a freehand controller when every man already has a revolutionary controller. (via Interactive Architecture)   One Response to “Interactive Urinals” 1 hector says: July 13th, 2006 at 13:58 awesome Leave a Reply [...]

  • 10. 廁所裡的互動玩樂 &hellip  |  March 24th, 2007 at 1:22 am

    [...] 20060521補充 Art in the bathrooms Interactive Architecture dot Org » Interactive Urinals Portfolio Marcel Neundörfer You’re In Control-Video Links The Urinal Game? [...]

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