CES showcases tech for bathroom

Smart products focus on self-care, wellness

CES is back in Las Vegas, and so is the pursuit of the ultimate smart home. For the bathroom, dozens of companies are showing off their new or soon-to-be released products designed to make bathing, grooming and mirror-gazing even easier.

Kohler, the American kitchen and bath product designer, is showcasing eight new smart products at the convention. At the top of the list is Perfectfill, a smart bathing technology that draws a bath to the user’s preferred temperature and depth with a voice command or through a Kohler app. It’s sold as a drain kit, starting at $2,700 and is designed to be paired with other Kohler digital and plumbing products.

For even more unique and hightech bathing, Kohler revealed its Stillness Bath. The product was inspired by Japanese forest bathing to turn the task “into a sanctuary for self-care and well-being,” the company said.

Stillness baths — starting at $8,000 with the first model available in the first quarter of 2022 — use water, light, fog and aromas to create an immersive bath experience.

Kohler isn’t the only company bringing technology to the bathroom. Health tech company Baracoda is highlighting its “bathroom of the future,” a vision of smart health devices connected without wires or multiple smartphone apps.

A bathmat with AI and footprint recognition, Bbalance can quantify metrics whenever you need to look. Examples of its use include letting a user know they need bigger shoes, they’ve lost weight or their posture has improved. Place that mat in front of Artemis, a smart mirror that can also monitor body composition.

“The big picture for health tech and devices that keep track of biorhythms and habits is to move toward technology as the driver for prevention and wellness, to change lives and empower self-care, and to make this technology affordable and accessible to those who need it most,” Thomas Serval, CEO and co-founder of Baracoda, said in a statement.

The three-day international consumer electronics show — cut back from an initial four-day run — opens Wednesday at several convention venues across the city and is being offered virtually. Some 2,200 exhibitors are planning to be on the CES show floor in person, according to the Consumer Technology Association, which produces the trade show.