This Woman’s Smart Toilet Tech Will Analyse Your Poo To Monitor Your Health

Most of our tech is currently smart or in the process of transitioning to smart. Why should toilets be left behind? Sonia Grego from Duke University wants to do away with the general aversion scientists possess against the study of stool. 

The researcher co-founded Coprata and is working on a toilet that uses sensors and artificial intelligence to analyse waste. With this, Grego intends to have a pilot study ready within 9 months.  

Why do we need a smart toilet

To be fair, our toilets do need an upgrade. In most parts of the world (not you, Japan) toilets are still based on an archaic design first introduced in the 19th century. 

While some toilets do offer bidet-capabilities to wash and provide warm seats, Grego wants to go farther off, as she told The Guardian. Grego wants to create a design that does more than simply flushing our poop. She wants to turn the average toilet into a smart reader of stool and all that goes into the commode.

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Also read: This Innovator’s Mobile ‘She Toilets’ Are Providing Women With Much-Needed Respite In Hyderabad

She believes stool samples could provide compelling insight into chronic diseases and even cancer with the right kind of technology. For other poopers who are relatively healthy, such smart toilets could help them maintain a “health baseline”, wherein they know what is normal and what isn’t.

That’s not all! People with inflammatory bowel disease could be catered with tailored treatments – something doctors struggle to do right now because of no monitoring means, a gap this toilet of the future will fill.

Based on your excreta, Grego believes smart toilets could instruct people what changes they need to make. Not eating enough fibre? Your toilet will tell you. For this, she hopes to link all data with an app that gives results.

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Not just excreta

Another toilet enthusiast – Joshua Coon is developing a smart toilet that does the same things, but by reading urine. Coon, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told The Guardian that certain molecules in the urine provide insight into what may be wrong with one’s body.

Also read: South Korean Toilet Turns Your Poop Into Digital Currency

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In a small study comprising two people, Coon found that after analysing urine for 10 days he was able to show what medicines a person has taken, how well one’s slept, the amount of fat in one’s diet… and so on!

With these markers, people may be able to maintain their health better than ever.

Are you game for smart toilets? Or do you find this whole pursuit is extra? Don’t hesitate to tell us in the comments below. For more compelling content from the world of science and technology, keep reading Indiatimes.com.