New ‘smart toilet’ technology can look for signs of disease scientists claim

(YAHOO) -

If you're looking for very, very personalized data about your bathroom habits, look no further.

Scientists at Stanford University have developed a smart toilet that can identify people based on their butt and monitor the health of their ...leavings. 

The Stanford team published an article this week about their smart toilet in Nature Biomedical Engineering, was designed as a continuous health monitoring device, like a smart watch. It uses cameras and motion sensors to identify "a range of disease markers in stool and urine," including colon cancer and prostate cancer.

"When I'd bring it up, people would sort of laugh because it seemed like an interesting idea, but also a bit odd," lead researcher Sanjiv Gambhir said in a press release. "Everyone uses the bathroom — there's really no avoiding it — and that enhances its value as a disease-detecting device."

The toilet even has a built-in identification system. The flush lever has a fingerprint reader on it, and cameras in the toilet bowl can identify people's butts.

"We know it seems weird, but as it turns out, your anal print is unique," Gambhir said.

The toilet's still in early stages and isn't meant to replace a doctor or diagnosis, but rather to alert users to red flags that could warrant medical attention.

Here's how it works:

Multiple pressure and motion sensors detect when someone's about to make a visit and, using biometrics, identifies the occupant.  

Information deposited during the visit is then sent to a cloud server for detailed analysis.

"The smart toilet is the perfect way to harness a source of data that's typically ignored — and the user doesn't have to do anything differently," Gambhir said. 

Stool samples are recorded on video and analyzed by algorithms that identify abnormal stool consistencies. Urine is also analyzed by algorithms that monitor "flow rate, stream time and total volume."

So far, the toilet has been tested on 21 lucky participants. Stanford researchers also surveyed 300 prospective participants, and 52% said they were at least somewhat comfortable with the idea.

"To fully reap the benefits of the smart toilet, users must make their peace with a camera that scans their anus," Stanford's press release says.

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