Abstract- 20200201- 13

Soon Kids Won't Be Able To Use Sinks

An EcoChi Vital Abstract

This article was posted January 10, 2020 by Eva Recinos, Hunker.

If you've ever watched a movie with a kid and heard them ask, "What's that?" at the sight of a landline telephone, congrats, because it's a terrible feeling. Kids nowadays don't know the beauty of a landline, or the screeching song of dial-up. They get to play with iPads at restaurants and basically know how to pull up their own YouTube videos, thank you very much. And if the current state of home tech is any indication, soon they won't recognize those clunky kitchen appliances of the past. Turning or lifting an actual knob to get water? That's for grandparents. At this year's CES, Moen announced U by Moen Smart Faucet, which functions seamlessly with voice commands through Google Assistant and Alexa. In a video showing the capabilities of the faucet, a mom asks Alexa to turn on the warm water and a kid happily goes up to the faucet, waits for the water, and washes her hands. You can even set the faucet to specific settings like "baby bottle" or "dog bowl," so that it will give you the exact amount and right temperature of water. You can give it commands like "Alexa, ask Moen to turn on warm water" or even more precise directions like "Hey Google, ask Moen to dispense one and a half cups." What are measuring cups? Things of the past, obviously. What happens when a kid walks into a house without a smart faucet or even — gasp — encounters a row of faucets at a restaurant bathroom with strange-looking knobs? Only time will tell.