Instead of going to the doctor's office for simple health tests, some Japanese can now go to the bathroom. The "Intelligence Toilet" can measure blood pressure, body temperature, weight, and urine sugar levels, all while you... well. The toilet is the latest in a family of smart loos called "washlets." Other toilets in manufacturer Toto's fleet feature water jets for cleaning, warmers for comfort, driers for after the water jet, and "otohime" or "princess of sound" speakers for drowning out any unpleasant user noises. The toilets also have automatically opening and closing lids, resetting after every use to keep his and her bathrooms in bliss and to help young children or elderly people who may have trouble reaching or bending down. In Japan, the toilets run for around 400,000 yen, about $5,000. Once the Intelligence Toilet has your health stats, it will display them on a wall monitor, though the toilet has the potential for more. An architect for the firm Daiwa House, which will install a set of the toilets in a retirement home, told the AFP:
"With the current model, your data is sent automatically to your personal computer, and then you can email it to your doctor.... In the next generation model, the data will be sent automatically to family members or doctors via the Internet."
Just think of the automatic advertisements accompanying emails that detail your pee's contents. Related content: Discoblog: Using Urine to Make the Garden Grow Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: The collapse of toilets in Glasgow Discoblog: Brazilians Urged to Pee in the Shower to Conserve Water Discoblog: The Coolest Carnivorous Plant/Toilet Plant You’ll See This Week Discoblog: International Space Station Gets New Toilet, Fridge, and Blogger
Image: flickr / David McKelvey
