This is a great idea. It would be even better if the foot peddle also acted as a flush, but maybe the laser things are cheaper. Same goes for public rest room sinks

Wouldn't it be better to skip the pedal and use a laser that recognises the recipient. If it'sa male, the lid lifts up. Female, stays down (depending upon preferences) ... or better yet: voice activated!

I think this is a great idea and should be marketed. I would like to hear from someone about the safety of those lasers and what they do to our insides. If you decide to go foward with the patent process contact me at vidalrg2000@yahoo.com .

Better go to Asian style toilets that are just a hole in the floor. No nasty surfaces to sit on at all. Very clean. Good exercise, too.

If the toilet seat defaults down, wouldn't the seat be on your back and neck? I would rather touch the seat with my fingers and wash off than with my neck and shower. Of course, only if you're 4 feet tall (which I'm not...)

DA. How would an infrared sensor know if the user was male or female? I imagine that it would be possible but its a situation where its not necessary. Generally if the seat needs to be up its because a male is standing to do his thing, so he then steps on the foot-pedal while doing that.

In regards to bob vidal. The "lasers" are actually infrared sensors. They send out a signal and then recieve the bounceback. Once something interupts the general bouncing back of signals it triggers the circuity to do something.

Good idea, I'd like to see it pursued. Actually it wouldnt be that difficult to manufacture a mechanism that would readilly attach to existing toilets and function as described.

Great idea! I want these in all public restrooms.

holymackeral: aisan-style toilets are great, if the users have impeccable aim. The areas where the users must stand can very quickly become intolerably filthy.

to acustodio: Why would you sit on the toilet with the seat up? Isn't the point of the seat to provide a place to sit above the bowl?

i know of a guy that tried this idea with the foot controlled toilet seat. He tried selling it in Vegas. His market was older people, and that they'd want it to make their lives easier. He hit all of the hotels in Vegas. No one wanted it.

failed, and lost a lot of money.

Great idea.

As a guy there is nothing worse than having the toilette seat fall down while urinating. You either have to squeeze your penis, let the lid fall or catch it. Which ever you do, you probably end up with urine somewhere it shouldn't be. To make matters worse women seem to love padded toilette seats or add a pretty cover on it. Holding the seat up usually puts a man too close to the back of the toilette to get good aim.

You wouldn't want it to automaticly lift the seat for men because sometimes men need the seat down too(unless you plan to crap standing up). Generating enough leverage to raise the seat might be a problem. This could be solved with a motor, in which case you might want to use a push button switch instead of a pedal. If you use only a leg-powered lever, the pedal will probably need a fairly long throw to get good leverage. You also don't want the seat to just drop when released. It needs to come down slowly enough to not slam. You also want it to come down slow so that if your foot accidentally slips off the pedal, you can get your foot back on the pedal before the seat drops into your urine stream.

I bought some of these on a close-out sale. Maybe they were from the guy tedjordan referred to. One problem is that it's tricky getting the thing installed at the right angle, another is that it can work its way out of the right spot. Another is that it makes it harder to clean the floor.

What would be best I think would be a little key-chain Zapper that would raise and lower the seat from a mechanism built into the toilet. But it would probably have to cost almost $100.