Watch out parents: Diapers have gone digital.
A company called Pixie Scientific has developed a new “smart” diaper capable of detecting urinary tract infections, kidney dysfunction and dehydration, according to the New York Times.
The diaper’s technology is relatively simple. A small patch at the front of the diaper contains four small, colored squares that each react differently when they come into contact with certain proteins, water content or bacteria. If an abnormal reaction occurs, the squares will change colors, signaling to parents that something might be off with their baby’s health, the New York Times reported.
Parents can also download an app, which can photograph the colored squares and give parents precise readings of their baby’s chemical data. That information can then be transmitted to a doctor, who will decide whether or not the baby needs to be examined further.
The diaper will be tested this September at the Benioff Children’s Hospital of the University of California, San Francisco. If all goes well, the product will be submitted for review by the Food and Drug Administration.
The founder of Pixie Scientific, Yaroslav Faybishenko, said he expects the high-tech diaper will cost about 30 percent more than non-digitized diapers. Faybishenko said he was inspired to develop the new technology by his own daughter.
“I was driving with my wife and daughter one day, when my wife asked if the baby had wet herself,” Faybishenko told the New York Times. “I realized she was sitting in data.”
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