Sanjiv Gambhir and his colleagues have debuted a unique smart toilet concept that will have long-term implications for health. Published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, the innovation consists of a mountable and modular system that is "capable of monitoring a person’s health by analyzing their urine and poop." This data is later uploaded to the could and could be used for detecting diseases and other health problems in a continuous manner.
Since washroom facilities—even smart toilet concepts like this one—have the potential to be used by more than one person, Gambhir and his team have installed a flush lever with a fingerprint scanner and added a camera on the inside of the bowl that can identify people. This information is not accessible to neither toilet user nor medical professionals, however, in order to preserve privacy.
Health-Monitoring Smart Toilet Concepts
Researchers at Stanford Pioneer a Data-Powered Toilet
Trend Themes
1. Data-powered Health Monitoring - The concept of using data analysis from bodily waste to monitor and detect diseases presents disruptive innovation opportunities in the healthcare industry.
2. Smart Toilets - The development of smart toilets with sensors and advanced technology opens up opportunities for innovation in the bathroom fixture manufacturing industry.
3. Privacy-preserving Technology - The integration of privacy-preserving technologies, such as fingerprint scanners and camera identification, creates opportunities for disruptive innovation in the data security industry.
Industry Implications
1. Healthcare - The healthcare industry can explore disruptive innovation opportunities by leveraging the use of data analysis from bodily waste for disease detection and monitoring.
2. Bathroom Fixture Manufacturing - The integration of sensors and advanced technology in smart toilets allows the bathroom fixture manufacturing industry to explore disruptive innovation opportunities.
3. Data Security - The implementation of privacy-preserving technologies in smart toilet concepts presents disruptive innovation opportunities for the data security industry.