Ingenious pneumatic seat and lid lower automatically, without electricity
By Sam Thomas (COM’24)
Benjamin Franklin once said that the only certainties in life are death and taxes, but we might add a third: dirty public bathrooms. But now, thanks to the ingenuity of three BU alums, that no longer needs to be the case. After years of hard work, they’ve created a new kind of mechanical toilet seat designed to help prevent common everyday messes caused during urination. Their company, Cleana, is set to begin shipping its first seats in the coming months.
The company was cofounded by Max Pounanov (ENG’23), Kevin Tang (Questrom’22), and Andy Chang (Questrom’21, CAS’21). The three met through start-up events hosted by BU’s BUild Lab IDG Capital Student Innovation Center and MIT’s Entrepreneurship Center. (Their chief technology officer just graduated from MIT). What drew them together was a desire to solve problems that affect lots of people, which led them to the bathroom.
Read the full story in BU’s Bostonia.
Photo by Justin Nardella