Home: Toilet: Diagnostic
Urinal Spectrophotometer   (+11)  [vote for, against]
Imaging technology is getting cheaper, let's use it for diagnostics

Your pee can tell you a lot about you. There's a variety of things that should be in it, and a lot that shouldn't. Now, A lot of those things are detectable by their absorbance spectra. For example, urea has a nice characteristic UV absorbance spectrum. If that absorbance is a little high, the urinal will discreetly tell you that you're a little dehydrated. Ketone bodies and glucose both have IR signatures. Similarly, these abnormal values in these areas can be displayed on a little screen. Proteins have a pretty strong absorbance in UV on account of their tryptophan content... also, conductivity can give limited information about salts.

So, basically, display a range of parameters on your pee on a little screen.
-- bs0u0155, Apr 24 2014

partially inspired by Urinal_20Dehydration_20Alert
[bs0u0155, Apr 24 2014]

Google Toilet https://www.youtube...watch?v=GLoVtbKL1fk
reminded me of this [sophocles, Apr 26 2014]

Baked in China https://www.oddityc...ests-for-a-fee.html
[bs0u0155, Nov 16 2023]

Good idea but does the notification have to be discreet? Loud klaxons and bright flashing lights in the wee hours (get it?) would act as a deterrent to you ever allowing yourself to become dehydrated plus, if startling enough, provide an opportunity for a subsequent stool analysis.
-- AusCan531, Apr 24 2014


Hell throw in a drug screen and you're all set. +
-- blissmiss, Apr 24 2014


+ and a pregnancy test. (presumably for the women)
-- xandram, Apr 25 2014


Most drug screens and certainly pregnancy tests are antibody based, and therefore a bit of a one-shot deal. Not really amenable to significant throughput.
-- bs0u0155, Apr 25 2014


Ever heard of the Google Toilet? (see link). It's a 5 year old joke, but very relevant to this idea.
-- sophocles, Apr 26 2014


+ to sphocles. Thanks!
-- pashute, Apr 26 2014



random, halfbakery