Designer Spotlight

THE BEST OF THE BEST

CAROLYN ELLEMAN

Carolyn Elleman, interior designer at Case Architects & Remodelers, www.casedesign.com, is a certified kitchen and bath remodeler with the National Association of Remodeling Industry (NARI) and named one of the National Kitchen & Bath Association’s (NKBA’s) Thirty under 30 Class of 2020. She’s sharing her take on the latest high-tech trends for the home, especially kitchens and baths.

Why did you decide to become a kitchen and bath designer?

I grew up in the construction world. My father is a master electrician and built our home. At a young age when playing with Barbies and Polly Pockets, I always focused on putting the house together, and never really cared about playing with the dolls.

How has designing kitchens and baths changed since you started your career?

When I first started, there wasn’t as much technology within the kitchen and bath world, and now the technology is off the charts. Touchless faucets, digital showing valves, and toilets that with heated seats and more. Almost everything now can be controlled by your phone. It’s been an awesome change.

What are some of your favorite high-tech items for the kitchen, bathroom, and the home in general?

For the kitchen, usually I would go to the faucet options, but appliances have really gotten high-tech, including simple ovens that you can use your phone to start or turn off and built-in espresso makers that have the waterline attached.

Bathrooms are a different story. For bathrooms - and my all-time favorite tech item - are digital showering valves.

Many companies have been using this technology for the last five or so years, but it has changed the way walls in showers look, as well as how we use our showers.

Technology within the home is a little more advanced than just a thermostat you can use with your phone. Homes now are more technologically advanced than ever before. I have two favorites that I tend to recommend for most clients: heated floors, if you are wanting to install tile, and smart locks for your doors. Both are simple to add to your project, and not super costly.

What are homeowners asking for as far as high-tech gadgets for the kitchen and bath?

A lot of homeowners aren’t aware of the vast majority of tech that can go within the kitchen and bathroom. We usually go over the options we use a lot, such as digital showering systems, heated flooring, touchless faucets, smart thermostats, and fancy appliances.

Do you have go-to high-tech items you put in every project? If so, what are they?

For bathrooms, I always recommend digital shower valves. They make wet rooms and showers look so much more attractive than having multiple valves on the wall.

Where do you see technology going in the future? Have you heard about any new high-tech items on the horizon?

Technology is ever evolving. Air quality monitoring within the home, as well as technology that can help with cleaning are among the items I think we’ll see more of in the future. Vacuums and chargers for electric cars are always changing, too.

Anything else you want to add about this topic?

Don’t be afraid of technology. When we talk about technology, we sometimes fear the unknown, as it can be a little daunting. We can embrace it and learn from it to advance our lives and our homes.

Carolyn Elleman Project Photos by Stacy Zarin Goldberg featuring a Case kitchen with a touchless faucet and Case bathrooms with a shower valve on the back wall and a digital shower valve.

Robotics, as defined by Merriam Webster, is technology focused on the design, construction and operation of robots in automation. The working definition for engineers and students is the use of robots to automate and speed up the workflow of modern industry.

Robotics are in your everyday life and wherever you go. Modern cars are full of automation both on the inside and out. Electric cars are, you could say, fully robotic since they run on electricity and are full of modern luxuries like tv sized screens and massaging seats. Self-checkout is another example of a robotic experience that one experiences every day. Since the beginning of the 21st century, robotics has taken over the modern workforce in the areas of manufacturing, healthcare, a large portion of the consumer industry and even the arena of exploration. Robots like the DaVinci surgical robot allow doctors to perform precise medical procedures in a controlled and safe manner. Robots with complex arms have made car manufacturing easier by manipulating pieces around factories with ease.

The Industrial Robotics Market was valued at approximately $41.7 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach roughly $81.4 billion by 2028. As the world turns more and more towards automation, growth in robotics is exploding.

The spread of this technology has been so immense in the last 15 years that many organizations have been formed to spread robotics and all areas of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) across the world in a variety of ways. One way this has been achieved is through the increase of competitive robotics in schools. Many organizations have been created such as FIRST Robotics and Vex Robotics.

ROBOTICS

The oldest of these organizations is FIRST robotics, which stands for For Inspiration of Recognition of Science and Technology. FIRST hosts 3 levels of robotics competitions every year. This organization was founded by Dean Kamen, the inventor of the insulin pump and the Segway. Seeing a serious gap between the United States and the rest of the world in growing technological advances, Kamen created this organization in collaboration with MIT professor Woodie Flowers in 1989. Kamen claims that of all his inventions and endeavors, FIRST is his favorite and most fun to come back to.

The earliest FIRST program which focuses on young STEM students is the FIRST LEGO League. This league was created for K-8 level students. The robotics part of the competition involves designing and programming LEGO education robots to complete tasks. The students work out a solution to a problem related to the theme (which changes every year) and then meet for the regional, national and international tournament competition. The students have two minutes to use preprogrammed commands using sensors to tell where the robot is on the field.

The second of the FIRST robotics programs is the FIRST Tech Challenge. This competition consists of 15 member teams competing with 18x18x18 inch robots on a 12-foot squared playing field. These teams compete on a budget of $5,000 and use a set list of approved parts. They compete at local qualifying events for a chance to advance to their regional championship. After competing at these regional championships, they can either win the event outright or win one of the qualifying awards to advance to the World Championship.

The final and oldest of the FIRST competitions is the FIRST Robotics Competition. This competition consists of 125-pound robots competing in a 3 vs 3 march style on a 50-foot by 70-foot field. Every January, FIRST announces the season’s theme for competitions, which varies yearly. “Recycle Rush,” “Aerial Assist,” “Ultimate Ascent,” and “Rumble Rebound” are themes from past years which highlight different aspects of a robot’s capabilities.

Once the theme of the season is announced, teams have six weeks to build their robots which are created with fully customized parts and designs. Upon completion, teams compete at regional competitions against 50 other teams from across the country for a chance to advance to the World Championship. These contests are intensely competitive and bring out the best in each and every team. At the competitions, the three winning teams advance to the World Championship as do the winners of the Impact Award. The Impact Award recognizes an outstanding team in the FIRST robotics community who has spread the word of STEM in amazing and advanced ways. The World Championship, annually held in Houston, is an intense competition drawing STEM students from across the planet. It is an amazing and rewarding experience for all participants.

The significance of robotics in today’s world – and its growth in terms of discovery and implementation, is obvious by the companies who support STEM. FIRST is sponsored by a wide variety of companies and organizations from NASA to Disney to Boeing to Johnson & Johnson to Apple and even the United States Department of Defense.

The Vex robotics competition is very similar to the FIRST tech challenge in both the size of the robots and the size of the field. These teams compete to win a variety of engineering awards. The teams that participate in Vex also have the ability to attend the Vex Robotics World Championship.

Robotics is a complex and fascinating new science that will continue to advance as humans advance. Using robotics, we can make complex tasks simple and easily repeatable with immense social and economic implications. Technology is a way we can grow and advance as individuals and as a society, so make sure you’re not left behind!