In 2021, your toilet may be able to diagnose “gastrointestinal diseases.”
At Stanford University, researchers have “created a prototype toilet that uses an artificial intelligence-trained camera to track the form of feces and monitor the color and flow of urine,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
The smart toilets have a “lab-on-a-chip” device that’s built into the toilet. This device will analyze small stool samples and will be able to “detect viruses like Covid-19 and blood,” says Seung-min Park, the lead researcher on the project.
This is said to be extremely valuable for health information and give an early “noninvasive” diagnosis of diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome and colorectal cancer,” says Dr. Park says.
In addition, an app would allow people to track their health.
WSJ reports the smart toilet would be able to “identify individual users by scanning their anus’ unique characteristics, or anal print.”
At the moment, there’s an agreement with Dr. Park and Izen, a toilet maker from Korea, to create the toilet. The cost of the product would be between $300 and $1,000, according to reports.
Scientists at Duke University are apparently developing a toilet that will collect and analyze waste after it has been flushed.
The toilet will use artificial intelligence to detect wastewater pathogens for viruses like COVID-19.
