"Will there be hospitals 100 years from now, or not?"
Park Seung-min, a professor at NTU who drew attention for his "smart toilet" research, met with ChosunBiz at his lab on the NTU campus in Singapore on the 5th of last month (local time) and asked this question. "Personally, I don't think hospitals will exist in the same form 100 years from now," he said, adding, "Homes will serve as both diagnostic centers and operating rooms."
Park's starting point for the future of medicine is the bathroom. In 2020, while a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University, he first made a name for himself by developing a module that analyzes excreta in real time. Attached to a toilet, the module uses a camera and sensors to analyze the shape of stool and detect abnormalities such as irritable bowel syndrome. It also automatically determines whether glucose or red blood cells are present in urine. The research led to an Ig Nobel Prize, known as a "quirky Nobel," in 2023.
The response in Korea, however, was cold. All five major universities rejected his research proposal, saying it was "not suitable as a project to be conducted at a university." Singapore reached out instead. NTU offered him a professorship, saying it liked that the research was the first in the world, and gave full support for securing funding and facilities. About a year after moving his research base to Singapore, in May last year, Park further cemented his academic footing by publishing a paper in Advanced Science, one of the world's most prestigious journals.
◇The blank in colorectal cancer mortality wasn't technology but "stool collection"
Park is developing technology to collect excreta from toilets for disease diagnosis. The first target is colorectal cancer. To that end, he is also aiming to win roughly 10 billion won in Singapore national research funding. The results are expected to be announced in Jan.–Feb. this year.
"There are already colorectal cancer test kits on the market with more than 90% accuracy, but the mortality rate remains high," he said. "The issue isn't technology but that people are reluctant to collect stool in the first place."
The solution Park recalled was Korea's past experience. From the 1960s to the mid-1990s, Korea reduced the parasite infection rate from over 80% to under 1% through a state-led eradication program. Mandatory screening and treatment for all elementary, middle and high school students nationwide from 1969 to 1995 were decisive.
"It was possible because we effectively screened the entire population," he said. "It wasn't about advanced technology. Stool was spread on a plate and checked under a microscope for parasites or eggs." He added, "Today's test kits aren't structurally much different. Users send collected stool to a lab to check biomarkers," and said, "If we automate the stool collection process, we can dramatically raise the diagnosis rate."
The technical key is collecting stool in the air, before it touches toilet water, without contamination. Park predicted, "Once this technology is complete, we can combine it with the existing module and install it not only in hospitals but also in public restroom toilets such as at city halls or pharmacies."
The scope of analysis will broaden. "We are discussing with specialists to expand analysis to menstrual blood and vaginal discharge," he said. "In the long term, the goal is to apply it to all bathrooms in Smart City environments, beyond smart homes."
◇Smart toilets head to market… social acceptance is key
Park plans to first introduce the developed module to the market as a health management product. To that end, in Apr. 2023, he founded the startup Canaria Health. In May last year, Canaria Health was selected for TIPS, a technology startup support program by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and is preparing commercialization of the module.
"We determined that integrating the module into a bidet is the optimal commercialization approach," he said, adding, "We are collaborating with iZEN Bidet, which supplies bidets to companies such as Samsung Electronics via an OEM model." He added, "Our goal is to launch finished goods before TIPS concludes in the first half of this year."
The first target markets are nursing hospitals and senior towns. In older adults, changes in the frequency and volume of bowel movements alone can predict health deterioration. "Bowel movement diaries that rely on human memory aren't accurate," Park said. "This module will link with a smartphone app to automatically accumulate data and recommend hospital visits at appropriate times based on that data."
Validation is proceeding in parallel. Since Oct. 2024, 12 prototypes have been installed at Seokjeong Wellpark Hospital in Korea to collect data, and four will soon be installed at Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore to run for about two years. In addition, introductions are being discussed with Seoul National University Hospital, Korea University Anam Hospital and Pusan National University Hospital, and a large-scale controlled clinical trial is being prepared with Seoul National University Hospital to transition to a medical device.
There are hurdles to overcome. Because it handles health data, the most sensitive personal information, privacy is an issue.
"We analyzed the shapes of different toilets to find angles that prevent the body from appearing on camera, and we firmly fixed the module to the bidet so users can't adjust it," Park explained. "It's designed to fundamentally block any 'spycam controversy.'"
He emphasized, "Data is encrypted and anonymized before being sent to the cloud, and we will minimize internal access rights, targeting the security level of banking apps."
References
Advanced Science (2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202503247