US Lab Creates Smart Toilet to Detect Different Diseases

US researchers have developed a new smart toilet that can detect the signs of different diseases by analyzing stool and urine.

The smart toilet, created by researchers at the Sanjiv Sam Gambhir Lab in the US, can detect a rangeof disease markers in stool and urine, including those of some cancers, such as colorectal or urologic cancers, according to the German News Agency. The new toilet is an ordinary toilet outfitted with sensors inside the bowl that carry out quick tests on stool and urine.

The toilet automatically sends data extracted from any sample to a secure, cloud-based system for safekeeping, or to be used when needed.

The Science Daily website cited researchers Sanjiv Gambhir saying: “Our concept dates back well over 15 years. When I’d bring it up, the idea was laughable because it seemed interesting.”

Gambhir has developed a prototype of the new toilet and tested it on 21 volunteers. The toilet can detect tens of markers of different diseases, and is able to measure important biomarkers such as white blood cell count, consistent blood contamination, certain levels of proteins and different chemical compounds in the human body, explained Gambhir.