Imagine an assistant that knows what time you’ll wake up and makes your mornings easier. It starts your shower, sets the water temperature how you like it, turns on your mirror lights to a preferred brightness and color, and tells you the day’s weather and traffic. It even warns you if water floods your kitchen or bathroom.
That assistant is Kohler Konnect, a new platform for smart bath and kitchen features that respond to voice commands, hand motions, weather and personalized presets.
Built with Microsoft Azure Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, the platform is part of Kohler’s transformation from a 145-year-old tub and toilet manufacturer to a digital leader in the smart home movement.
“The vision of Kohler Konnect is to take gracious living one more step,” says Fei Shen, director of smart home engineering at Kohler, a global company based in Wisconsin.
Products include a bathroom ventilator and heater that understand the outside weather and season, the Numi intelligent toilet that automatically turns on the bathroom ventilator when you sit on it, and Kohler’s Whirlpool bath filler that can automatically fill a tub with water at the desired temperature and depth via voice command or mobile app.
Kohler’s products also include a grooming mirror that can talk to you and play music, and a kitchen faucet and water filter that can turn water on and off – and dispense a specific amount – via voice command or hand motion.
“We push to live on the leading edge with innovation and a bold design statement,” says Andrew Zhou, vice president of global engineering at Kohler.
Learn more about Kohler and Kohler Konnect products at Microsoft’s Customer Stories page.
