Game Of Thrones.

Previously on WCD.

Throne, co-founded by University of Texas graduate Scott Hickle, has developed a device that clips onto a toilet and tracks gut health, hydration and prostate health using a camera, microphone and artificial intelligence.

Yep. Another potty cam.

“I certainly didn’t think I was going to grow up to build toilet cameras for a living,” Hickle said.

I bet his parents (who the article mentions are both doctors) are proud.

“There’s a microphone here and we can turn the sound of your pee stream into a chart of your urinary flow rate and the peak urinary flow rate,” Hickle said.
The team even developed a special robot that simulates peeing to develop the microphone.

Robot Or Not?

The app shows data for:

“You can see every session throughout the day. So I’ve gone four times,” Hickle said while demonstrating the app.

Did. Not. Need. To. Know. That.

User data is also given extra security. The website promises “bank-level encryption”.

Well, that’s completely meaningless.

Throne’s device costs $400 and requires a $6-per-month subscription that the company says helps pay for its AI models.

So the hardware is cheaper than the Kohler Dekoda, and the subscription is $1 a month cheaper (though the Dekoda is only $70 if you pay for a full year). There’s no mention in the article, however, if the subscription covers multiple Thrones or just one Throne per subscription. There’s also no discussion of multi-user capability.

Other than that, I’d repeat the same things I said about the Dekoda: I get that there are some people with health conditions that might find this useful, though I question whether it would be $400 plus an ongoing $72 a year useful. I also get that “gut health” seems to be the next big health advance, though it seems to me that “gut health” has been a thing for a while, and what do we have to show for it?

And, once again, here’s your hydration chart.

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