One of the coolest things about 21st century technology is the focus on making everyday devices “smart” or predictive.

This is all about making everyday technologies that can be adjusted to the users preferences or even having devices learn and anticipate a users preferences. Technology that adjusts to people rather than people needing to adjust to technology.

While the Sunrise Faucet from Renshui was not designed specifically as adaptive or assistive technology, it sure looks like it will fit the bill. The faucet has a number of inviting features for people with disabilities, especially for those persons with limited hand function or for those people who have insensate hands and are concerned about burns.

What makes me think the Sunrise Faucet is “adaptive”? The features of course! The faucet features a built-in “smart chip” which controls the water flow and temperature. With a simple touch, you can go from hot to cold water, on or off. Another super feature is the intelligent light, which indicates the water’s temperature to reduce the risk of scalding accidents. A pretty neat package for some people with disabilities.

The Sunrise Faucet is manufactured by Renshui in China. I’m not sure if distribution is set up yet in the USA but one thing you can be sure of, if it’s made in China then it is made for distribution to the USA.

Aside from being cool high tech solutions, why do I get juiced up about these smart technologies? For most of the 20th century, adaptive and assistive technologies for people with disabilities have been the oddity. Most often they were spin-offs of consumer goods that specialty companies would modify for use by people with disabilities. This made them to hell and gone expensive, hard to find, difficult to get repaired, and generally out of reach for many.

Devices and technology that are in the consumer mainstream, the same item usable by all, become more readily available, less expensive, and they help make universal accessibility a reality rather than a burden.

Be cool,
Ziggi