About a year ago, the concept of smart diaper has been started by a group of Japanese researchers from Tokyo University. As we all know, Japanese are quite adept in making home chores easier and lighter through appliances. This time, they’re taking measures to prevent babies from soaking in their own pee.
What the Japanese came up with is a film-like device that can be attached on a diaper. The 78x53mm chip then works as an analyser and sensor when the baby needs a change. It’s thin enough not to cause discomfort on the baby’s part but sturdy enough to transmit important information to the parents’ smartphone(s).
Is this all about monitoring the baby’s pee amount? By no means, the valuable chip would be limited to monitoring pee levels. It can also measure the baby’s body temperature, blood pressure or better yet, be implanted at the roof of a quadriplegic’s mouth and serve as a touch pad.
Concerning about the babe’s safety, Takao Someya expressed that it’s very safe since it is receiving power from an external monitoring device and not from its generated electricity which would otherwise endanger the baby. Further, it’s really thin and flexible so it won’t in any way provide discomfort even on a baby’s super sensitive skin.
On the other hand, another development is being run for another kind of smart diaper which involves QR code to determine the baby’s health through urine analysis. Pixie Scientific, the company behind this project, explains that the label (QR code) passes the results into the smartphones through scanning. The app within the device uses algorithms to calculate and analyse the data and can determine problems such as impending urinary tract infection (UTI), type 1 diabetes and dehydration.
While the concept of these diapers is great by its own means, analysis about the parents still plays a crucial factor. What seems to start as a vision to help exhausted parents has a huge possibility to exhaust them the more. Until this project is perfected, expect questioning eyebrows to stay raised.