There’s always some new product coming out for kids, being marketed to parents as a must-have item, whether they actually need it or not. And today, it’s a new “smart diaper” that’s been developed by a research team at Penn State University. While parents can usually tell when their little one’s diaper needs to be changed just by looking at it, this high-tech diaper sends an alert to their phone when baby needs a change.
The smart diaper uses an electrode sensor to detect changes in humidity and the sensor is created by using a pencil to draw on paper that’s treated with a sodium chloride solution. The hydration sensor is extremely sensitive and once it gets wet, the diaper - which is connected to a tiny lithium battery - sends a message to a smartphone via Bluetooth, telling the caregiver that it’s diaper changing time.
While parents could just take a peek or do the smell test, like they’ve been doing as long as diapers have been a thing, they could also use this “low-cost” technology the researchers pride themselves on. They did test the humidity sensor in face masks and found it could potentially provide data that could detect the onset of a heart attack or when someone stops breathing. So even though we probably won’t be seeing these “smart diapers” on the shelves at Target anytime soon, the humidity sensors could be used in other areas for healthcare.
Source: Scary Mommy
Scott's Thoughts:
- Regular diapers are already outrageously expensive, who wants to add to that?
- I always knew when the diaper needed changing. THE SMELL!
- Not into this, but liked some technology like the "Diaper Genie."