A hands-free towel dispenser for dispensing a measured sheet from a roll
of towel material includes a housing having an internal volume so as to
retain at least one roll of towel material therein. An electronically
powered dispensing mechanism is contained within the housing for
dispensing a measured sheet from the roll of towel material upon
actuation of the dispensing mechanism. A passive trigger sensor is
disposed so as to detect the presence of a user in a first detection
zone, and an active dispense sensor is disposed so as to detect the
presence of a user in a second detection zone that is different from the
first detection zone. For each dispense cycle, the passive trigger sensor
senses the presence of a user in the first detection zone prior to the
active dispense sensor being enabled to initiate a dispense sequence upon
detection of the user in the second detection zone.