Daily stool monitoring. This is the objective of a new technology from the start-up “Throne”, specializing in health based in the United States. His goal? To watch “gut health and hydration straight from your toilet”. To do this, the American company has developed what it calls a “artificial gut intelligence”capable d’analyser stools.
It is aimed at people suffering from chronic digestive disorders, in particular Crohn’s diseaseulcerative colitis and syndrome irritable bowelbut also to the elderly. Still in Beta version, the first devices will be available at the end of 2024.
An AI to analyze the color and texture of stools
To work, the start-up uses a camera, attached to the toilet and facing downwards. The latter “securely captures video during each toilet visit, which is then analyzed by advanced AI models”, écrit the start-up on its site. Trained by doctors, this AI is based onBristol stool scalea way to classify stools based on various gastrointestinal disorders. As a reminder, it is made up of 3 categories: “constipated”, “healthy” and “may indicate diarrhea and emergency”.
Once collected, the images are anonymized then analyzed by doctors to classify them, but also to “spot urine color shades for hydration levels and identify other health indicators in your feces.” In addition, it is possible to take photos of your meals and upload them to the application in order to identify foods that are more or less well digested.
Data protection and health: what devices for these connected toilets?
But what about data security and confidentiality? First of all, the start-up would like to reassure on its website “we only capture images of the contents of your toilet bowl, any other data is not relevant to our mission and could compromise our ability to provide accurate health information”. Once on the server, this data is encrypted. Also, the start-up claims not to have access to user data. Additionally, data can be deleted upon request.
This is not the first time that artificial intelligence has been used in health. In 2021, American researchers from the company Coprata developed artificial intelligence capable of analyzing stools when they arrive in the pipeline. In April 2020, researchers revealed a toilet prototype capable of detecting certain diseases, such as kidney failure or bladder cancer. This prototype was presented in a study published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering in 2020.
If you notice changes in your stools, or if you have any questions, do not hesitate to consult a health professional.
Sources :
- Throne monitors gut health and hydration right from your toilet – Throne
- Throne’s toilet camera takes pictures of your poop – TechCrunch – 20/10/2024
- A mountable toilet system for personalized health monitoring via the analysis of excreta – Nature Biomedical Engineering – 06/04/2020
- The smart toilet era is here! Are you ready to share your analprint with big tech? – The Gardian – 23/09/2024
