We pee, on average, seven times a day, and we probably pay little attention to the act, aside from noting the color, or that particular smell eating asparagus gives it. However, urine is full of information that health-tech company Withings hopes to deliver to your phone via its new -U-Scan home urinalysis device.
Unveiled here at CES 2023, the puck-like sensor attaches to your toilet and uses a cartridge full of tiny test pods to sample and test your urine. According to Withings, it can, thanks to a thermal sensor, automatically detect when someone is peeing on it and even, using a low-energy radar sensor, identify individual stream signatures. Put more simply, U-Scan will know if it's you or, say, your partner peeing on the puck.
It's not, by the way, the outside of the glass-fiber reinforced polymer-covered U-Scan that reads your urine sample. Instead, there's a specially-designed collection inlet that pulls in just the right amount of urine for analysis.
According to Withings, U-Scan Nutri Balance can read your urine's pH balance (acidity). ketones (carbohydrate levels), vitamin C levels, and water balance (hydration). The Withings app will track these parameters and let you know if they're, for instance 'stable' or in 'optimal' range.
Withings claims that its U-Scan Cycle Sync is the first automatic hormonal solution. With the accompanying app, it can perform daily hormone and dietary biomarker analysis. The information derived from U-Scan's urinalysis can, according to Withings, assist with menstrual cycle prediction and ovulation window determination for those trying to get pregnant.
Automated, digital, home urine analysis doesn't come cheap. U-Scan will start at $499.95 (which is about £410 or AU$730, although pricing for the UK and Australia has yet to be confirmed) for the device and one cartridge. After that, you need to pay a $30-a-month subscription.
