Kohler launches smart toilet camera
techcrunch.com> a $599 camera that can be attached to your toilet bowl and take pictures of what’s inside.
This is really the dream of the Cloud to Butt Chrome extension.
Sometimes we really oughta ask ourselves if we should do something just because we can.
See - I actually think this is a pretty interesting idea. Stool/Urine are fairly solid indicators of personal health in a lot of ways.
But I think this is a product that probably shouldn't be allowed to exist as a standard SaaS/IoT product.
If this was a box I could hook up on my toilet that showed useful info on a screen locally - with zero network access... I'd consider buying.
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People are really glib about the loss of control relying on someone else's computer brings.
between service enshittification, company death (out of business), privacy concerns, and ownership contention (do I own a device if a company keeps keys to the locks inside it and won't give them to me? I'd argue a solid and resounding "NO")... I don't want anything to do with most modern networked devices in the form of IoT.
Sure. Load the data locally onto an SD card that I can use to share the data with my doctor. Sending the data off to some remote third party via a questionable internet connection is a no-go for me.
Oh I certainly believe there is merit to the idea. But the execution is… a bit concerning
I'd say this was pretty literally enshittification...
Can't wait for the day I need a subscription to flush my toilet.
I buy my flush water from the city by volume.
We're almost there, right? Wasn't there a recent story about needing to watch ads in order to get toilet paper somewhere?
Kind of like the episode of Black Mirror where everything required credits. Like toothpaste!
"Sorry, toilet cannot contact AWS. Please try again later."
Does it have an alcohol mister pointed at that fingerprint sensor? That's probably the last place in my house I'd encourage people to be rubbing their fingers.
Given that most people don't have an alcohol mister pointed at the flush button, and that gets touched just as often as the fingerprint sensor, I think the lack of an alcohol mister is fine.
I was thinking about the proximity to the bowl. The flush handle/button usually isn’t single digit inches from where poop splashes around.
Probably a good idea for toilet user to wash their hands.
we’ve also written about the toilet camera offered by a startup called Throne
Marketing department working overtime with that name
Someone saw Smart Pipe and thought it was real?
Came here looking for the Smartpipe reference, left satisfied.
Is it too much to say that I've thought that we could easily collect valuable health information by collecting data on digestion output. It mostly happens in just a few locations (unlike input), so it's perhaps worthwhile to invest in data collection.
I expect weight to be valuable, simple to collect, precise, and quantified (thus simple to analyze). Assuming excrement and urine have consistent masses, you would have good data on half of the food input/output equation, which could tell you about hydration and nutrition, the efficiency of fluid and solid digestion, etc. (Input is more difficult to measure.)
Density might also help; a sensor in the output pipe below might measure it after a consistent water pressure is applied.
For the OP, I wonder how sophisticated these instruments are. For example, using the empty bowl as baseline, you might automatically collect and quantify color data.
Ideal output: half-pound no-wipe solid floater
The hydration of stool varies considerably.
Probably tough to do much with just information about the outputs.
This seems like a theranos type of product where the image analysis will be done by some unfortunate person far away.
Sounds like a shitty job
That's just how trickle-down economics works.
Not hot dog…
I don’t know if it was the pod8 or what but the idea that you pay several hundred dollars (or more) for hardware to only need a monthly subscription fee to make it actually function is absurd.
Also this is absolutely insane in the currently climate. I would be interested in data from analysis of my “output” but there is not a chance I would trust any company in the modern age to not sell the resultant data. If I develop signs of colon cancer or something is that going to silently impact my insurance rates because of data brokering?
Privacy issues aside, I think having a camera to monitor stools and urine color is an excellent way to gauge health. I hope the folks at Kohler can make this happen.
There are some privacy issues you can't set aside.
The status quo is that I have enough skin in the game when it comes to my health, that if something doesn't feel or look normal (and I didn't just eat a lot of beets), I go to the doctor. It would save me an annual subscription cost, too, and it's a big upfront cost for when Kohler no longer wants to support it (a lot of people have Nest thermostats that are losing all of their useful functionality in a few days).
If this helps people with specific conditions, that's great, but, I'm having a hard time picturing someone who is so out of touch with their body that they will pay for this and follow its recommendations.
I have something called eyes and they come preinstalled and included with my system. I carry them with me everywhere. They are multifunctional for many other applications too. They do not have a subscription model either. They even come with a built in, extremely efficient power plant that produces energy for them endlessly for around 80-something years by simple input of quality biomatter.
These "eyes". Do they save data to a database? Is that database query able by say, your doctor with actual usefulness? What got logged on March 12th at 2:43 AM, 2003? Can you show it to someone else for them to analyze, or do they have to rely on your expert opinion?
Is your data corrupted? Yes, the data is saved to a database. Yes, that database is queryable by me, an even more efficient path than a third party querying something as ridiculous as a database of stool pictures? At least you could have used a contemporary "AI analyzed" trope.
But besides the point, are you like some vested interest in poop-cam? Or why all the intense defense of this ridiculous idea? Is it your baby I am pointing flaws out in through some satire?
Is your data corrupted? Yes, the data is saved to a database. Yes, that database is queryable by me, an even more efficient path than a third party querying something as ridiculous as a database of stool pictures?
Okay, then it should be easy to answer: What got logged on March 12th at 2:43 AM, 2003?
Or even just last month? Do you know how the average amount of mass has changed over the last 6 months with any accuracy, or are you eyeballing it and assuming that there's no variation?
> But besides the point, are you like some vested interest in poop-cam? Or why all the intense defense of this ridiculous idea? Is it your baby I am pointing flaws out in through some satire?
Rule of thumb: Ad hominem never makes your position stronger.
lol. What about for those that are colorblind?
Come on people. At least you laughed, even though you went full what about. I guess humor is still dead?
What a snarky and terribly useless comment. Do better.
Pair this with a U-Scan Nutrio (https://www.withings.com/us/en/u-scan-nutrio) for "Number 1" and you're all set.
Could probably also develop a toilet seat that weighs you and measures body composition.
The measurement bodily stool and fluids is out of control. It borders on a disorder.
Does everyone in the house need their own toilet for this to work or would a couple need two separate cameras attached to the same bowl? What happens if a guest uses your toilet?
I’m excited about this product, but curious about the practical logistic of using it and it’s not clear to me how it works from the product page.
Aren't sphincters unique like fingerprints? There's already a camera, make it happen Kohler.
> and a fingerprint sensor to identify who’s using the toilet
So it sounds like you would only need one camera for multiple people using the same toilet.
thanks i missed it. eseentially you have to put your finger on a shared device in the bathroom everything time you use the loo.
You already do that assuming that you are flushing.
Touche
The Withings solution doesn't require a camera and seems like the better solution. It's still expensive and basically a subscription.
Product page (but it is 404 right now): https://www.kohlerhealth.com/dekoda/
a $599 camera.
between $70 and $156 per year for a subscription.
who would do that ?
nevermind its a rule 35 scenario.
I’ve been on the internet long enough to tell you that there is a market.
There's a parliament where they kept finding cameras in the bathrooms.
The phrase "more money than sense" comes to mind.
Not a lot of people and presumably they know that, hence the price.
> who would do that ?
Discriminating anal-ysts.
Shit just got real
Oh yeah this can't go wrong at all...
feels like the onion wrote this.
$599 for device (just a “camera” mostly?) and then a yearly subscription? One or the other folks.
I don't see how this is practical unless your toilet has a USB port to provide power.
Presumably there’s some power near the toilet, or they’re self selecting for people who do. Beyond that, it has a rechargeable battery for those who do not.
Electric bidets are not uncommon, and are popular depending where you are in the world.
From the linked CNET article: "The device has a removable, rechargeable battery and uses a USB connection." Or, if you're willing to spend $600 on a poop camera, you probably already have a bidet with power near the toilet.
Would you really take it out of the toilet, wash it, wait for it to charge, and put it back on a regular basis? I have enough chores already.
I imagine a bidet would be able to provide enough water for a tiny hydro turbine to sustain the battery charge.
I’m not sure there are enough .. well.. fetishists to support this subscription service. I assume there’s a market, but at a lower price point with no subscription.
What a weird product, I don’t want anyone examinining my feces remotely unless I give them a sample myself.
Strangely enough, the Secret Service goes to great lengths to intercept and dispose of the President’s bodily waste (like disconnecting the black water pipe and connecting a temporary tank to collect waste). I believe Putin has his waste collected as well, probably other world leaders too.
It would be strange to do it for someone unimportant, but for a world leader who's opponents will take it to extract DNA for analysis to try and gain some advantage, it seems entirely reasonable.
If this is medically useful is the question. If it can decect cancer before other tests and thus save my life I'm interested.
Couldn't u just do this yourself?
It's easy to laugh, but this product, deployed at scale would collect a treasure trove of data that would be good for humanity.
From Kohler's website: "Deep dive into Dekoda’s design"
Intentional humour?
Of course it is a company founded by a German inventing a product to help you inspect your poop
With Withings there are also some french men trying to do the same for pee with U-Scan, there is even a subscription model tied to it