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An interactive urinal is a device that allows users to play
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
s or control interactive displays while urinating. Several designs have been produced to date, usually comprising a
urinal A urinal (, ) is a sanitary plumbing fixture similar to a toilet, but for urination only. Urinals are often provided in men's public restrooms in Western countries (less so in Muslim countries). They are usually used in a standing position. ...
fitted with a pressure sensor to measure the strength and position of the urine flow and an
LCD A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers to display information. Liquid crystals do not em ...
screen mounted above the urinal to provide animated graphics.


Captive Media

A
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company called Captive Media developed and patented an interactive
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
system for installation above
urinal A urinal (, ) is a sanitary plumbing fixture similar to a toilet, but for urination only. Urinals are often provided in men's public restrooms in Western countries (less so in Muslim countries). They are usually used in a standing position. ...
bowls in 2011. Their system operates by use of
infra-red Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those of ...
detection of urine temperature, with the sensors integral to the screen unit which is positioned above the bowl. Amongst others, the system is installed in The Exhibit Bar in
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in London, and Ta Bouche Bar in
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. Players control the system by directing their stream left or right. Currently the system has two games: * ''On The Piste'' – a skiing game, in which the player must knock over penguins to score points. * ''Clever Dick'' – a pub-quiz game, in which players must answer True or False questions. Players can then access an affiliated website called Captive Games to view their scores on a leader board, and use
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to broadcast them. When not in use the screens display
entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...
content, including
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videos and
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s, as well as the venue's own promotional material and third-party
advertisements Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of interest to consumers. It is typically us ...
.


Yanko Design

In 2006 the design magazine ''Yanko Design'' presented a concept for a urinal containing a pressure-sensitive display screen that is triggered when it is urinated on, producing images and sound. According to the designer, Marcel Neundorfer, it transforms urination into "more than just a necessary nuisance. By projecting the game experience into the public space, viewers are treated to a new way of visualizing the abstract, and the entertainment value is boosted."


PlaceToPee

An interactive urinal named PlaceToPee, formerly named PleeStation (''plee'' means "toilet" in Dutch), was devised in Belgium by software engineer Werner Dupont and electrical engineer Bar Geraets. The pair came up with the idea during a drinking session in a bar and attracted the interest of sanitary equipment company Guedens Sanitair Verhuur, which provided financial support to develop a single PlaceToPee unit. The PlaceToPee was installed in the 2007 GamePower Expo in
Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...
with a racing game that allowed visitors to steer on-screen cars with their urine. The system gave warnings to players about drunk driving if their urine was off-target. It was shut down after the Belgian police deemed it to be indecent. The following year the makers displayed the PlaceToPee at the " Arendonk Zingt & Swingt" festival. It allowed users to answer on-screen questions by urinating in a particular direction. The creators publicly expressed confidence in their product and suggested that it could be used as a sophisticated means of counting votes for the Miss Belgium contest. Women are catered for by providing them with a cardboard cone to direct their urine.


Interactive urinal communicator

The interactive urinal communicator is an
advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...
device invented by bioengineer Dr. Richard Deutsch for the
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company Wizmark. The 3.5-inch (8.9 cm) screen is placed in a
urinal A urinal (, ) is a sanitary plumbing fixture similar to a toilet, but for urination only. Urinals are often provided in men's public restrooms in Western countries (less so in Muslim countries). They are usually used in a standing position. ...
to promote products or services. Deutsch commented, "Now when nature calls, there is going to be something entertaining to look at and listen to." Features of the advertising include: * Flashing lights that are activated by physical presence, or actual urination * A lenticular image that changes depending on viewpoint * A 16-second pre-recorded audio message * A temperature-sensitive image Deutsch commented to '' Marketing Magazine'' that "Beginning with early attempts at writing one's name in the snow, there has always been an element of recreation associated with
urination Urination is the release of urine from the bladder through the urethra in Placentalia, placental mammals, or through the cloaca in other vertebrates. It is the urinary system's form of excretion. It is also known medically as micturition, v ...
for men." Such advertising vehicles are not entirely new: some plain screens have carried advertising for a few years now and poster style ads in washrooms are quite common. The use of interactive urinal screens is being advocated by guerrilla marketers.


''Global Warming''

In 2009, artist Ricardo Carvalho and programmer Alias Cummings created an interactive urinal entitled ''Global Warming'', in which the trail of urine hits on a grid of ultra sensitive piezos housed within the urinal. The strength and direction of the urine is calculated and used to control the navigation of a 3D Earth globe, leaving a trail of thousands of Google Earth place markers on its surface. The spectator's action is reminiscent of spraying, the animal behaviour of identifying and marking territory. ''Global Warming'', besides its obvious environmental connotation, is an ironic take on how primitive territorial instincts, such as the visceral act of spraying, can be exercised through supposedly intelligent and networked devices and at the same time disguised by them.


Sega Toylet

The
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
ese company
Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...
has developed an interactive urinal system called the Toylet. A choice of four mini-games can be selected: * ''Manneken Pis'', named after the eponymous statue of a urinating boy in
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
, awards the player a score based on how hard and how much they can urinate. * ''Graffiti Eraser'' requires the player to spray urine around to clean graffiti off a virtual wall. * ''The Northern Wind, The Sun and Me'' puts the player in the role of the wind trying to lift a girl's skirt by blowing air at her – the strength of the wind depends on the force of the flow of urine. * ''Battle! Milk From Nose'' allows the player to compete against the person who last used the urinal by comparing the strength of their urine streams. The streams are represented on-screen as jets of milk squirting out of the noses of two characters standing in a sumo ring. If the player's urine stream is stronger, his opponent is blasted out of the ring. The Toylet records players' scores and allows them to be saved onto a
USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...
memory stick The Memory Stick is a removable flash memory, flash memory card format, originally launched by Sony in late 1998. In addition to the original Memory Stick, this family includes the Memory Stick PRO, a revision that allows greater maximum storage ...
. Advertisements are shown between games. The system was installed in the men's toilets in four stations of the
Tokyo Metro The Tokyo Metro () is a major rapid transit system in Tokyo, Japan, operated by the #Organization, Tokyo Metro Co. With an average daily ridership of 6.52 million passengers (as of 2023), the Tokyo Metro is the larger of the Tokyo subway, two s ...
, including
Akihabara is a neighborhood in the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo, Japan, generally considered to be the area surrounding Akihabara Station (nicknamed ''Akihabara Electric Town''). This area is part of the and Kanda-Sakumachō districts of Chiyoda. There is an ...
, Soga, and
Ikebukuro is a commercial and entertainment district in Toshima, Tokyo, Japan. Toshima ward offices, Ikebukuro Station, and several shops, restaurants, and department stores are located within city limits. Transportation At the center of Ikebukuro is ...
. It was trialed until the end of January 2011. Some units are available at the new Tokyo Sega Joypolis. Simulated versions of Toylets are playable in the video game '' Yakuza Kiwami 2''.


Open source implementation

Open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...
hardware project. The Pinect, a hand-free game console for pissoirs named after the popular hand-free controller,
Kinect Kinect is a discontinued line of motion sensing input devices produced by Microsoft and first released in 2010. The devices generally contain RGB color model, RGB cameras, and Thermographic camera, infrared projectors and detectors that map dep ...
. The Pinect is an open source project, meaning that the hardware and software designs, as well as the 3D case design, are freely available to the public. The Pinect's electronics are based on an Android tablet (Mediapad T3 10),
Arduino Arduino () is an Italian open-source hardware and open-source software, software company, project, and user community that designs and manufactures single-board microcontrollers and microcontroller kits for building digital devices. Its hardwar ...
, and a low-cost 0.3M USB camera. This makes it accessible to a wide range of DIY makers and developers. The use of the Android platform allows for easy game development using popular game engines such as Libgdx, Unity, and Godot etc. Currently, there is one game available for the Pinect console. PiBall is a network football arcade game for two players, which was developed for the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia. This open source implementation of an interactive urinal not only provides a unique and entertaining experience for users, but it also allows for a wider community of developers and makers to contribute and innovate on the project. It opens up new possibilities for interactive public spaces and provides a fun and engaging way for people to interact with technology. The Pinect project is fully open-source, and all of its software for Android and Arduino is available on
GitHub GitHub () is a Proprietary software, proprietary developer platform that allows developers to create, store, manage, and share their code. It uses Git to provide distributed version control and GitHub itself provides access control, bug trackin ...
. The repository includes everything needed to build and replicate the Pinect, including the 3D case model, PCB, and scheme layout. The 3D case model can be used to 3D print the housing for the Pinect, while the PCB and scheme layout can be used to assemble the electronic components. All the necessary software, including the Android app and Arduino sketch, can be found in the repository and can be easily compiled and loaded onto the device.


References


External links


Global Warming
Photographs and video of ''Global Warming'' at the Kinetica Art Fair 2010
PlaceToPee official website

New Sega Gaming Console: Japanese Innovation At its Finest
Photographs and screenshots of the Toylet from ''Akihabara News''
Captive Media
Official website {{toilets Toilets Urinals Game controllers