A team of scientists at Stanford University have developed a smart toilet that will not only recognize the user by their butt, but will also monitor the health of their poop and pee.
The team designed the toilet as a "continuous health monitoring device," much like a smart phone which uses cameras and motion sensors to identify "a range of disease markers in stool and urine," including colon cancer and prostate cancer. Lead researcher Sanjiv Gambhir said in a press release , "When I'd bring it up, people would sort of laugh because it seemed like an interesting idea, but also a bit odd. Everyone uses the bathroom — there's really no avoiding it — and that enhances its value as a disease-detecting device."
The toilet's flush lever is equipped a fingerprint reader, and cameras in the toilet bowl which can identify people's butts.
The toilet is still in early stages of development, and isn't meant to replace a doctor or diagnosis, but only to alert users to potential red flags that could warrant medical attention. There is one small roadblock Gambhir believes, however.
"To fully reap the benefits of the smart toilet, users must make their peace with a camera that scans their anus," he says.
Via Business Insider