Research scientists develop AI smart toilet

Research scientists from the U.S. and South Korea have developed the world’s first artificial intelligence (AI) smart toilet, which helps detect diseases ranging from urinary tract infection to prostatic hyperplasia to inflammatory bowel diseases by simply installing the device on a toilet.

A team of researchers including Park Seung-min and Lee Jun from the Stanford University School of Medicine, and Chairman Lee Jong-kyun, chief surgeon Won Dae-yeon, and Kim Jeong-ha from Songdo Hospital used pressure sensors, high-speed cameras, and visual AI to develop a healthcare technology that examines the time of defecation, the shape of feces, the speed urine flow, and the amount of urine. The technology was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering on Monday (local time).

While feces and urine are important health indicators, there have been few measurement studies on them as they involve sensitive body parts. Using the technology they developed, the research team could film human feces and analyze their shape and the level of softness in order to check the health status of patients. In addition, they checked if a patient has diseases such as urinary tract infection through urine examination and used high-speed cameras to measure the speed of urine flow and its amount to see if a male patient has prostatic hyperplasia.

The research team also made the examination faster and easier by adding the identification technology that uses anus to identify individuals. “We made sure that our technology does not violate patients’ privacy by not storing sensitive personal information,” said Park. The smart toilet can be used in managing and examining colorectal and anal disorders, such as dyschezia, digestive diseases, including irritable bowel syndrome, and urinary diseases. The research team is planning to upgrade the technology to include the monitoring of cancers, rumen microorganism, and COVID-19 by adding DNA analysis function.


ashilla@donga.com