Revolutionizing Hygiene: The First AI Bidet's Journey with CEO Ilan Tiagai - Innovation, Environmental Impact, and the Future

Ilan Tiagai, CEO and co-founder of the Smart Hygiene Company, discusses the inspiration behind creating the first AI bidet on the market.

He explains how spectroscopy is used in the bidet to identify and clean soiled areas.

The bidet's smart features, such as adjusting water temperature and thorough cleaning, set it apart from traditional bidets.

Ilan also highlights the environmental impact of using bidets and the increased popularity of bidets during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He shares the target audience for the bidet and the positive response from consumers. Ilan discusses the future innovations planned for the bidet and the company's successes so far.

Takeaways

The Smart Hygiene Company has created the first AI bidet on the market, using spectroscopy and AI to thoroughly clean soiled areas.

The bidet's smart features, such as adjusting water temperature and thorough cleaning, enhance the user experience compared to traditional bidets.

Using bidets can have a positive environmental impact by reducing the use of toilet paper and conserving water.

Bidets have become more popular during the COVID-19 pandemic due to toilet paper shortages.

The target audience for the bidet includes seniors, people with disabilities, and patients who need help with toileting.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background
01:13 Inspiration behind creating the first AI bidet
05:16 Enhancing the user experience with AI
09:38 Smart features that set the bidet apart
14:48 Environmental impact and water conservation
16:26 Bidets becoming more popular during COVID
25:22 Availability and cost of the bidet
27:02 Successes and future innovations
32:06 Importance of addressing toilet hygiene

YouTube video: https://youtu.be/wlqK9V-BJik

Transcript

Janet (00:00.563)
Hello everyone, and today we have our guest, Ilan Tia Guy. He is the CEO and the co-founder of the Smart Hygiene Company. And we're gonna go live on LinkedIn. So excuse me one second while I hit the button here.

Janet (00:25.983)
Okay, so, Elon, thank you for being with us today.

ILAN TIAGAI (00:30.51)
It's my pleasure, thanks for having me.

Janet (00:33.691)
Yes, tell us about your company and tell us a little bit about your background as an engineer.

ILAN TIAGAI (00:44.046)
Sure. So I, by education, got my bachelor's and master's degree in electrical engineering. I specialized in control systems and robotics, although I've done a bunch of different things. I worked on voice recognition, I worked on motor control, I worked on robotics and image processing, and now I am working on AI as it applies to creating a smart toilet seat.

Janet (01:13.307)
Okay, well, I would love for other people to learn about your product. You contacted me last year and introduced me to your product and I just thought it was so amazing because as an occupational therapist, I've always been a big fan of bidets and how they help people improve their hygiene, you know, especially people that have a range of motion issues or perhaps cognitive impairment. You know, it really helps caregivers.

in providing caregiving tasks at the toilet. So I was just fascinated with what you had created. And what was even more fascinating was that it was created with AI. So I want to ask you specific questions. First, can you share the inspiration behind creating the first AI bidet on the market?

ILAN TIAGAI (02:10.894)
Sure. So first, we wanted to solve a problem. And the problem at hand was, how do we make a device that would automatically adjust for anyone short or tall, white or black, thin or obese, and get them thoroughly clean? So the concept is very simple. It's as simple as you can get. One simple action, and you come out.

I did not particularly care which technologies we used at the time. And we actually tried to use classical computer vision technologies to do this task. And the task at hand is identifying the anatomical regions of interest, identifying the soiled areas and cleaning them thoroughly. So our first attempt was just using classic computer vision techniques, visual object recognition, and that didn't quite do the job. And so we turned to AI.

as a necessity, not because we were looking for how can we use AI in bidets. We were looking at how can we select the right technologies to get a person thoroughly clean with a simple action. And as I mentioned, computer vision didn't quite do the job, the classical computer vision techniques, and so we turned to AI and in fact, that was the winning combination along with spectroscopy. So.

Just briefly, we use AI to find the anatomical regions of interest. We identify whether this is a male or a female. So the sex of the user tells us what we want to clean. And then we use spectroscopy to find feces. And that's important because classic computer vision techniques will not work well on brown people or black people, because then you're looking at contrast. Also,

classic computer vision techniques will not be able to differentiate between moles and feces or birthmark and feces. So spectroscopy is really handy to do these tasks. And so between a combination of AI and spectroscopy, we can do it all.

Janet (04:23.991)
Can you tell us a little bit about what spectroscopy is?

ILAN TIAGAI (04:28.478)
Yes, so spectroscopy is a field within physics where you would emit radiation or light onto an object and you would collect the radiation or light coming back and you would analyze it. In our case, it's light. So we emit a specific light, we capture the light coming back and we analyze it. And that analysis reveals the locations of the feces on the buttocks area.

Janet (04:58.379)
fascinating. Okay.

ILAN TIAGAI (05:00.682)
It is. It works great too.

Janet (05:05.931)
So how does the AI in your bidet enhance the experience for the user compared to traditional bidets?

ILAN TIAGAI (05:16.306)
Okay, so it's not just the AI, it's a combination of the AI and the way we interpret the results of AI. So basically, in a traditional electronic bidet, by the way, we need to sort of categorize a different type of bidet. So you have manual bidets like the two shears of the world that are purely mechanical. And these are not particularly hygienic. And then you have...

Electronic bidets of all sorts. There are many different types, many different manufacturers, and they all look similar. They have a control panel or remote control with a bunch of different buttons and knobs and controls, and you use them to make various adjustments. Yeah.

Janet (05:57.111)
So let me ask you a question, because this was something you educated me on a few months ago, is why is the traditional bidet that's not an electronic bidet, why is that not as hygienic as an electronic bidet?

ILAN TIAGAI (06:13.594)
Okay. It's not as hygienic because it has bacteria on it that is not thoroughly cleaned. So electronic bidets, not only ours, but most, if not all electronic bidets, go through two cleaning cycles, self-cleaning cycles. So when the nozzle is retracted into its housing, it's washed with high-pressured water. And in most electronic bidets, including ours, it's washed twice. It's washed...

before you clean the user and it's washed after you clean the user. And between uses, it is housed in a housing that is closed with a little flap. So that means that when you flush the water, all the bacteria doesn't get on it. And if it does get on it, we wash it away. It's part of the startup cycle. That is not the case with mechanical bidets. And so...

whenever you flush the water or whenever they get dirty they become a source of bacteria.

Janet (07:18.463)
I understand because it's just projected out into the toilet. And when you flush, it's covered with bacteria. And it's always exposed. OK. OK, thank you. Because that, I think, is a point that not many people are aware of.

ILAN TIAGAI (07:29.736)
Right.

ripped.

ILAN TIAGAI (07:41.29)
Unfortunately, so first, yes, you are correct. And unfortunately, these less hygienic bidets give the whole bidet industry a bad name, I think, because many studies that are conducted to evaluate the impact of electronic bidets on hygiene, on UTIs and whatnot, they don't tend to differentiate between electronic bidets and manual or mechanical bidets. And because mechanical bidets will tend to spread bacteria.

they wouldn't sort of give the whole industry or the whole product a black eye.

Janet (08:17.551)
Okay, yeah, well, I can see, even though I had never heard negative things about, you know, people having an issue with increased rates of urinary tract infections, because they were using a manual bidet versus an electrical, but I would assume that as more and more people use it, then you would start hearing about these cases.

ILAN TIAGAI (08:44.754)
I think that the, so there are some studies that one can find.

ILAN TIAGAI (08:52.862)
study these uses of bidets and you sort of get mixed reviews. And the reason for the mixed reviews is because they don't differentiate between electronic bidets that are hygienic and mechanical that are not very hygienic, but purely mechanical.

Janet (09:05.947)
Okay, so yeah, so that's something that consumers need to be aware of is whether you're buying a manual bidet or an electronic bidet and then, you know, these differences in how it's going to affect cleanliness.

ILAN TIAGAI (09:25.179)
Correct.

Janet (09:26.695)
Okay, well great. Thank you for explaining that. Can you explain some of the features, the smart features, that set your AI bidet apart from other bidets in the market?

ILAN TIAGAI (09:38.374)
Yeah, absolutely. So electronic bidets in general, the nozzle extends in just one dimension and it sprays water. It doesn't sense anything. Okay. In our case, when our nozzle comes out, it senses, it finds the anatomical regions of interest, it finds all the feces and the nozzle actually moves in two dimensions. We actually direct the nozzle and we direct essentially the water stream.

to clean the anus in the case of a male and a female. In the case of a female, we'll also clean the vagina. And then we would clean any residual feces that are found on the buttocks area. And that is sort of the crux of it. The idea here, the whole concept is one simple action, you come out clean. The other electronic bidets out there have complicated remote controls or...

control panels with all sorts of interesting features that we don't think you need. So in our case, for example, you cannot adjust the water temperature. We fix the water temperature, whatever it is, 36 degrees centigrade, I believe. The seat is heated to a constant 32 degrees, so you get a nice warm seat. You cannot make it hotter or colder. I don't think that that's necessary. And not only that it's not necessary, you know...

You and I might be able to figure it out in some of the younger people, but I don't think that our mothers or grandmothers will be able to figure it out. So really, the smarts here is in the automation of the cleaning process. You take a simple action, so right now, it's a button pressed, soon enough, we had a voice command for the visually impaired and people with severe mobility challenges. And...

So you take a simple action, you come out clean. So we talked about the technology, although really the technology shouldn't matter, right, to the user. The user, all the user needs to do is take a simple action and not worry about what's under the hood. And this is really what sets us apart. In addition, the other electronic bidets don't actually find the soiled areas and make sure that they're clean. The other electronic bidets just spray water.

ILAN TIAGAI (12:02.334)
And in the event that you had a messy outing, you might come out still dirty after using these electronic videos, including the very expensive higher-end ones.

Janet (12:14.795)
Right, because it doesn't know that whether the area is thoroughly cleaned or not. It's just on a timer.

ILAN TIAGAI (12:22.786)
Correct. That's exactly right.

Janet (12:26.155)
Right, so then with the smart hygiene bidet, it's not on a specific timer because you're using the AI and the spectroscopy to evaluate the area and analyze it, and it won't stop until the person is fully clean.

ILAN TIAGAI (12:44.974)
Correct, exactly right. So what we'll do is we will wash the anus and then all the soiled areas if we find any. And after the cleaning cycle, we'll do another scan. And if we find feces, we'll repeat the cleaning cycle again up to three times. And then we'll start the drying cycle. Typically, the whole process takes two to three minutes for the best majority of users. So it's really not a lengthy process. It's certainly faster.

then the help a senior or disabled person would get when they pulled the cord or pressed the button after using the toilet and waiting for the caretaker to come in and help them.

Janet (13:25.263)
Yes, and I can tell you since I'm an occupational therapist and I've held many people in the bathroom that it is hard to get to someone's private parts. And with this camera that your bidet has, then you can rest assured that everything is being clean. You know, you're not asking the person to move around. You know, they're not getting irritated with you.

And so that saves a lot of work for the caregiver.

ILAN TIAGAI (13:57.886)
It does. It saves a lot of work. It also saves lower back strains or lower back injuries. Now, you had mentioned the word camera. That turns to raise red flag with some people. So I just want to say that our system is perfectly secure and private. There are no images. There's no connectivity to the outside world. There's no Wi-Fi. There's no Bluetooth. There's nothing. Moreover, we do not save any images. We process the images.

to obtain the features and find the locations and then we discard them. So this is as private and as secure as it can get.

Janet (14:33.559)
Okay, well thank you for explaining that. So what about the environmental impact? In what ways does your bidet contribute to water conservation and environmental sustainability?

ILAN TIAGAI (14:48.966)
Right. So toilet paper is not that great for plumbing. It's not that great for the environment. I think that it costs us about 37 gallons of water or something like that to produce one roll of toilet paper. And then toilet paper, particularly if it's used in large quantities can jam the pipes, the sewer pipes.

What we do is much greener, much better for the environment, and much cheaper. In the savings, not only of labor and reduction of UTIs and reduction of falls, but just pure toilet paper, not using toilet paper. And in our case, in about a third of a gallon, in the majority of cases, we can get a person thoroughly cleaned. So it's better for the environment, it's better for plumbing, it's greener, it's more sustainable, just great all around.

Janet (15:46.855)
And isn't it true that bidets became more popular during COVID when we didn't have easy access to toilet paper? Yeah.

ILAN TIAGAI (15:57.086)
Absolutely, absolutely. So before COVID, I would say that probably 90 or 95 percent of Americans never heard of bidets, especially electronic bidets. I had to show them pictures or videos of these things. Surprisingly, after COVID, so during COVID, it became much more popular because of the shortage in toilet paper, but even now, I would say that probably 75 percent of Americans never used and never heard of an electronic bidet.

And there are reasons for that. You know, in Japan and in South Korea, electronic bidets are ubiquitous. They're everywhere, in homes, in offices, hotels, etc. And they work great. The population there is, they tend to be very homogeneous. The men are, you know, 5'6"-9", black hair, flat stomachs. And so the default setting for the bidets would fit just about everyone.

In the United States, we are a very varied population. We have short people, tall people, white people, black people, thin people, obese people. And whenever you have a product that requires adjustment, particularly if you don't know if it's adjusted until it starts spraying water on you, any product that requires adjustment is a no-go, especially in a public place.

Yeah, and also there is a stigma about products that have to do with defecation in the United States. People are uncomfortable talking about this, people giggle when you mention it. It's a laden topic. It's an uncomfortable topic, it's a touchy topic, but it is a topic that is as universal to mankind as you can get. We all poop, we all poop into something and we all need to get cleaned. And even though it's sometimes uncomfortable, you know.

It is what it is. Now, for most of us, all we know about is toilet paper. And for those of us who are able-bodied and we're with it mentally, that's not an issue. That's all we've ever known. But for those of us who are disabled or frail, for many of our seniors, that's a real challenge. And it's also a real challenge for the caregivers too. And 20% of us will end up

ILAN TIAGAI (18:19.062)
caring for a family member, which means helping them with ADL activities of daily living, including showering, preparing meals, toileting, etc. So soon enough it's going to affect all of us, either directly when we need help or indirectly when we need to provide help to a loved one. So it is as universal topic as you can get.

Janet (18:42.748)
Yes, and I.

Janet (18:46.931)
I agree with you and I was just reading the new statistics on the most common disabilities in older adults. And it used to be mobility impairment, but actually now it's cognitive impairment. So it's 12.7% of Americans suffer from some form of cognitive impairment. And then...

It's 12.1% of Americans suffer from a mobility impairment. And I think it's about one in four Americans has at least one disability, and that could be at any age. And one in six has two or more disabilities. Yeah.

ILAN TIAGAI (19:32.63)
bright.

ILAN TIAGAI (19:38.17)
Right, right. Now let me just add to what you said about, forget the exact numbers, I think it's something like 10% of Americans have some sort of a vision disability and 25% of us will have a vision disability before we die. So that's a very large number of people will need help with all sorts of things including using the bathroom.

Janet (20:04.451)
Yes, and I'm glad you brought that up because actually vision is the first system to deteriorate with age and it happens as early as 40 years old. So by the time you know we're in our 60s and 70s you know not only are we not able to focus but we're also the pupil is not letting in as much light.

ILAN TIAGAI (20:16.513)
Right.

ILAN TIAGAI (20:31.124)
Yeah.

Janet (20:31.755)
An older person needs three times as more light as a 20 year old to just see the same thing. And then also our lens oxidizes as we age. And so we're also not seeing things for their true color. So that affects how you see the world. And then depth perception, right?

ILAN TIAGAI (20:48.875)
Mm-hmm.

ILAN TIAGAI (20:55.254)
Sure, sure. Yeah, so yeah, just as you were looking at it, I was looking at the statistics and there's roughly 10% of Americans have some sort of a vision disability. 2% are legally blind and 8.1% have difficulty seeing. So all of these folks would benefit from help with activities of daily life, including toileting. And let me add one more thing. So.

which is very, very important to this specific problem of toileting. And that is the following. If you need help with activities of daily life, you can wait for your caregiver to help you prepare a meal or prepare a meal for you, take your medications, help you in the shower. But when you need to go to the bathroom, you can't wait. When you need to go, you need to go. And so this is a use case where we have an urgency in

Janet (21:41.695)
Right.

ILAN TIAGAI (21:50.675)
You know, we can't wait an hour or even half an hour. Sometimes you can't even wait 15 minutes for your caretaker to arrive or come back from lunch or whatever it is.

Janet (22:01.579)
Right. Yes, that's the that's what I would tell caregivers is if your loved one has an issue with mobility and that they can't get to the toilet or they can't transfer to the toilet. You cannot leave the house for more than a two hour period because someone has to be here when that person has to go to the bathroom again. Yeah.

ILAN TIAGAI (22:20.192)
Mm-hmm.

ILAN TIAGAI (22:27.567)
Right.

Janet (22:29.799)
And another thing I wanted to mention about, you know, the, how the AI, how cleansing thoroughly during toileting is so important. Um, and it's not just the mobility, but if you do not cleanse your skin thoroughly, um, then, and you have feces or you have urine that's sitting on the skin, especially for older people or for.

young children because their skin is more sensitive and it's thinner it also is going to break down faster. So this is going to result or could result in a pressure sore that came from the chemicals of you know our bodily fluids just sitting on our skin.

ILAN TIAGAI (23:17.986)
That's correct, yeah. There are all sorts of health risks. You know, UTIs and skin infections are the most common ones when it comes to improperly cleansing after toileting, but you can get all sorts of other nosocomial infections.

Janet (23:35.915)
Mm-hmm. So now I want to ask you about your audience. So who is the target audience for your bidet and how have consumers responded to it so far?

ILAN TIAGAI (23:49.798)
Okay, so our target audience are seniors, people with disabilities, and patients who need help in toileting. That's really what we're after. Now, so far the people that we've spoken to review the product, just basically the literature and what we're doing, and we got very, I would say, overwhelmingly positive reviews.

We are about to launch pilot programs with six senior living facilities in New York, one hospital. And we have a few other organizations, disability organizations, that are going to evaluate the product. We after the pilot will be able to really publish the results, including testimonials from users. We would like to, at some point in the near future, to conduct a more scientific study.

on the effect of using our product in the reduction of UTIs, the reduction of falls, the reduction in caregiver burden and the increased retention. I think that we'll probably start these studies this summer, hopefully.

Janet (25:07.543)
all that is very exciting. And I know people are wondering what is first of all, when will the Europe Day be available in the US and what is the cost?

ILAN TIAGAI (25:22.098)
Right. So we are, the bidet is going to be available for usage this summer. It could be as early as May. We are awaiting for UL testing. Once we get a UL certification, we're going to build a certain number of units for the U.S. The cost is something that we're still working out. We have some.

ILAN TIAGAI (25:50.35)
Studies that we're conducting to figure out really what users will pay for it. I think that it's going to be somewhere between let's say 600 and a thousand dollars a lot of it has to a Lot of it will depend upon the supply chain Right now we're paying a lot more for components than we typically would We're paying a lot more for production that we typically would once we produce it mass

once we're able to mass produce. But we have done a ROI analysis, a return on investment analysis, and it's really, we're going to price it in such a way that it's really a no-brainer. It's going to be a no-brainer for senior living facilities. It's going to be a no-brainer for people. We would also do whatever we need to do to have insurance carriers, particularly Medicaid and Medicare cover it, or cover a portion of it at least.

Janet (26:49.027)
would be wonderful. And tell me about the successes that the Smart Hygiene Company has had so far, particularly I know with Veterans Affairs.

ILAN TIAGAI (26:50.276)
Yeah.

ILAN TIAGAI (27:02.118)
Yeah, so we just to give you a quick rundown on where we stand right now. So we have completed the development of our prototype. In fact, you can see it behind me there. That's our system. That's how it's actually going to look. So the system is working. We have, as I said, we can't offer it to the general public until it's UL certified.

We have a manufacturing partnership with a South Korean electronic media manufacturer that's already in place and that takes care of the logistics and the manufacturing. We're a class one FDA listed medical device. We have two patents that have already been granted, one that's pending. We are pursuing contracts with the major GPOs. We expect to publish PR soon enough about...

an upcoming contract that we're getting with one of the major GPOs. We have signed an agreement. GPO stands for Group Purchasing Organization. This is a company that aggregates and manages vendors for different industries. In our case, it's for healthcare. So hospitals, senior living facilities, they all are members of GPOs and they do the purchasing through the GPOs.

Janet (28:03.287)
Tell us what is that for people who don't know the GQ.

ILAN TIAGAI (28:28.698)
And it makes life much simpler for the vendors if they're on the contract with the hospitals that would purchase their products. So it's not a must, but it's very helpful for both the vendor and the customers, which are the hospitals and senior living facilities.

Janet (28:53.559)
Aside from those vendors and hospitals, how could a lay person that learns about your product purchase it? Will it be at a store, online?

ILAN TIAGAI (29:08.498)
So yeah, so that's an excellent question. So right now we're talking to various distributors and we're talking to sales teams right now that are in suppliers of DME, Durable Medical Equipment, and we're going to select a few of them to sell our products. But I think that soon enough on our website you'll be able to access the sellers of our product. And...

also you'll be able to buy directly from us as well.

Janet (29:38.959)
Okay, well, that's wonderful. So you're gonna have distributorships and then people can also buy it directly from your company.

ILAN TIAGAI (29:48.834)
Correct. You'll be able to buy it from our website and you'll also be able to buy it from distributors. Correct.

Janet (29:56.639)
That's wonderful. Elon, what are the future innovations that you see for your product?

ILAN TIAGAI (30:05.794)
That's an excellent question. So smart hygiene currently.

ILAN TIAGAI (30:14.074)
We are planning pilots and we're going to learn a lot from these pilots. And I expect that we're going to learn what else we can add to the product to make it better. So some things that we know that we have problems with, for example, cleaning users that are very obese. Okay. Uh, for these people, I think we will need to.

have a toilet seat that sort of spreads widely and to expose the anus. So we can identify it and clean it. That's just one example. For people who are unable to make it to the bathroom, we are going to offer a bedside AI commode that would allow people, just like the user commode now, but to enjoy the benefits of excellent hygiene without...

having to be bent over, especially after, you can imagine, open-heart surgery and without having the caretaker have to maneuver around them and under them with toilet paper or wet wipes to clean them. So these are some of the innovations we're planning in the near future. We think that we're gonna learn a lot over time as we start using this. And it's one of those things where...

The innovation here won't stop, this is just the beginning. I'm sure we'll find other scenarios by which our product may not do a perfect job on a particular class of people, and we'll need to figure it out as we go along, make it better and better.

Janet (31:52.383)
That's fascinating. And what you're saying about being able to attach it to a 301 commode is excellent because that's the population who needs it more than anyone else. Yeah. Yeah, that's wonderful. Is there anything else that you want to add before we finish our conversation today?

ILAN TIAGAI (32:06.221)
I agree with you 100%.

ILAN TIAGAI (32:17.35)
So the only thing I want to add is that I know that for many people, and I've mentioned this before, the topic of toilet hygiene is an uncomfortable, wattachi subject. I totally get that. But I think they need to sort of understand that this is as universal an issue or problem as we have, all of us. And I think that...

Once we bring it to the world to initially help the people who need help that can't reliably use toilet paper, you know, the seniors are disabled, they're frail, I think that there's no reason that they should not be in schools or in hotels and in offices and in homes and in airports and everywhere else. I think that we are...

going to revolutionize actually toilet hygiene as we know it. I think. Yeah, I think. Thank you.

Janet (33:19.015)
Oh, well, I hope you do. And I can tell you from having, I mean, now my children aren't toddlers anymore, but I have two kids and anyone that has kids can tell you that toileting, you have a very narrow relationship with toileting when you have a young child. And it is one of the biggest issues when they are learning how to...

toilet themselves that they don't know how to clean themselves. Right. And you have to be in there supervising and doing a lot of the job. You know, in fact, I have a funny story. My daughter may not appreciate that I'm telling this story, but she doesn't listen to the podcast anyway, so who cares? When she was, she was an only child until she was 12 years old. Right. So, you know, all of the attention was on her.

ILAN TIAGAI (33:52.647)
right.

ILAN TIAGAI (34:12.337)
Okay.

Janet (34:16.963)
And when she was seven years old, I was like, that's it. I am tired of cleaning her butt. I'm not gonna do it anymore. And she was at the toilet and I had already told her that I was expecting her to start cleaning herself, you know, and wash her hands as she was old enough to do this. And so when it came time, you know, that she went to the bathroom and she calls me, you know, she would either call me or my mom.

to go clean her. And I said, Isabel, you're old enough. You can clean yourself. But I don't know how to do that. And then she started crying and she said, that's not fair, mom. You don't love me anymore.

ILAN TIAGAI (35:02.926)
I'm gonna go.

Janet (35:05.655)
So she associated me toileting her with loving her. And I just, I remember that day like it was yesterday. She's 23 now, almost 24. And now she laughs about that story, but she didn't laugh back then.

ILAN TIAGAI (35:12.13)
That's funny.

ILAN TIAGAI (35:26.018)
So, yeah, so I'll also share, I also have two kids. I'll share a quick story with you as well. One of my sons used to, and he still does it sometimes, he used to clog the toilet. He just used so much toilet paper and I was like, I don't wanna mention his name, I don't wanna embarrass him, but it was like, oh my goodness. And once we got the regular electronic bidet from the house before we built our product, I just reminded him, hey, make sure you use the bidet.

Janet (35:28.183)
Thank you.

Janet (35:40.728)
Yeah.

ILAN TIAGAI (35:53.194)
Yeah, at least for some others. Yeah. And that took care of that problem. No more clogging the bathroom with toilet paper.

Janet (35:53.983)
Yeah.

Janet (36:04.207)
Yeah, yeah, you know, during COVID, when we had the shortage of toilet paper, my daughter, she was already in college living on her own. And she would call me and tell me, Mom, I've been two hours going from supermarket to supermarket looking for toilet paper. And, you know, my parents are Cuban and, you know, didn't have a lot of money, you know, when, you know, worked very hard and so.

my parents and my grandparents that came from Cuba in their 50s and had to work in factories, and they would save everything. Let's say you bought a container of butter, that container of butter then became a container that you use to store food, right? After that butter was finished. Well, I would see...

ILAN TIAGAI (36:44.214)
Right.

Janet (36:58.183)
little containers, food containers in the bathroom that were next to the toilet because even though we didn't have bidets, they would use this, you know, to help clean themselves, to really be clean because, I mean, let's be real, with toilet paper, you're only going to get so clean, okay, even if you use a ton of it. And I said to her, to my daughter, that I couldn't find the toilet.

ILAN TIAGAI (37:17.554)
Exactly. Right.

Janet (37:27.231)
paper. I said, Isabel, your problem has a simple solution. I said, go to your kitchen, take a Tupperware. Okay, leave it in your bathroom. And then when you go, you just fill that with water and you wash yourself. And she's like, Mom, that's disgusting. And I'm like, No, it's not. You're, you're gonna be cleaner. You that method than your toilet paper.

ILAN TIAGAI (37:52.215)
Well.

I agree. I agree. And but I have to say something it is I always found it to be not very hygienic and a little disgusting. I would just rather press a button and have the technology take care. So I understand your daughter's point. I yeah.

Janet (38:07.123)
Oh, totally, right. But if you don't have that, right, you're, what you've created is way better because it takes the user out of the equation. Yeah, yeah. Well, Ilan, this was such a great conversation. I love your product. I think like you, it's going to be revolutionary when you consider.

ILAN TIAGAI (38:20.722)
Exactly, exactly, exactly. Wonderful.

Janet (38:37.139)
the cost of paying a caregiver, which is right now, it's at least $17 an hour, and you have a minimum of hours, right? So it's usually three hours that you have to hire them for. I mean, do the math. Even if your AI bidet was $1,000, that would pay for itself in less than a month.

ILAN TIAGAI (39:02.126)
So yeah, we have an ROI analysis. I expect it to be less than 1,000. I don't know exactly what the MSRP price is gonna be, but I think that, yeah, I think that the ROI will justify it easily. And I also think that we'll be able to drop the price substantially as we start manufacturing in large quantities and get the paper part.

Janet (39:25.811)
Well, and if insurance pays for part of it.

ILAN TIAGAI (39:29.534)
where, yeah, that's gonna be a big thing for the people who need it to get coverage from Medicaid, Medicare, and other carriers, yes.

Janet (39:37.831)
Okay, well that's very exciting. So I would definitely like to have you back in a few months when your bidet is in the US and especially after you start your trials because I'd love to learn what you're learning from the use of your product and how it's decreasing fall risks and pressure sores, UTIs, all of that.

ILAN TIAGAI (40:02.414)
Thank you.

ILAN TIAGAI (40:06.608)
So thank you for having me and I would gladly join you on a future podcast.

Janet (40:12.043)
All right, well, thank you, Elon.

ILAN TIAGAI (40:14.242)
Thank you very much, Janet.