Who in their right mind would think of putting a camera in the toilet. If the camera also costs $600, the thing sounds even more crazy. It’s Kohler’s latest idea and it makes more sense than it seems.
Monitoring even the poop
Smart watches and bracelets have created a whole health monitoring culture. It is what a few years ago we called the ‘Quantified Self’, but recording the steps was just the beginning. Today any wearable is capable of recording our heart rate, the level of oxygen in our blood, and they also measure our sleep.
Where smartwatches or smart rings do not reach, an entire category of health monitoring devices has emerged, such as smart scales or Kohler’s proposal with the Dekoda camera. It is not the first in this line, a couple of years ago we already talked about the sensor to detect Withings’ urine.
Dekoda: the camera that analyzes your bowel movements
Kohler is one of the most recognized household products manufacturers in the United States. They recently announced the creation of a new division focused on health and their first product is Dekoda, a camera that is installed in the toilet to record the frequency and characteristics of our bowel movements.
Dekoda has “advanced optical sensors and spectroscopywhich effortlessly observe how light interacts with your waste to learn to detect variations that could indicate health problems.” Kohler says that behind Dekoda there are more than 10 years of research to ensure accurate and reliable results.
Dekoda comes with a mobile app in which data is transmitted (not photos, thank goodness) and helps detect health problems such as dehydration or presence of blood in the stool, which can be indicative of serious illnesses. It also offers nutritional suggestions and lifestyle changes. To ensure privacy, all content is encrypted and can be protected by fingerprint. It also comes with a remote control that is placed on the wall to scan the fingerprint and thus distinguish between users.
The camera is placed on the edge of the toilet bowl (it can be placed in any toilet, it does not have to be from Kohler) and works with a rechargeable battery that we can remove to recharge it. It costs $599, but also you must have a subscription to Kohler Health to be able to use the app, so you have to add 70 dollars per year per user or 130 dollars if there are several.
Images | Kohler
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