Inventor Of Self-Cleaning Toilet Seat Sets Sights On 'Shark Tank'

Robert Poleki, the current Bannock County Clerk in Pocatello, Idaho, has passed on a re-election campaign to focus his efforts on his invention — a self-cleaning toilet seat. According to the Idaho State Journal, Poleki has pitched the "Washie," an affordable, self-cleaning toilet seat for public restrooms, to ABC's Shark Tank, but there's no word yet on whether he'll be taking it to the small screen.

In the meantime, Poleki has received a lot of positive feedback on the invention. Washie toilet seats dispense a disinfectant soap on the top of the seat, allowing the user to wipe the rest of the seat clean with toilet paper. The believe is that this will cut down on maintenance time and that it’s more cost-effective than paper seat covers.

The product officially launched May 9 and it was only 24 hours before Poleki was contacted by three major fast-food chains and two of the largest companies in the restroom industry.

Over the last three years, much of Poleki's efforts have been put into the Washie design work and prototyping, as well as discussions with the U.S. Patent Office. Poleki said he just has a short waiting period for the patent after he recently signed the last of the documents and paid the final fees.

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