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Japanese invention lets you share your baby’s bowel movements online with the push of a button

Casey Baseel Dec 29, 2017
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The country that created the book Everybody Poops now gives you a way to let everybody know.

In Japanese, the word “unko” means “poo,” complete with the innocent, child-like nuance of its English equivalent. Because of that, you might mistakenly think that gadget maker 144Lab’s new Unko Button, which it’s marketing to new parents, is some sort of technological wonder that moms and dads can press to empty their baby’s bowels at a time when it’s convenient for them, but the truth is arguably just as odd, though in a different way.

The Unko Button is a palm-sized box that records your baby’s bowel movements at the touch of a button, instantly sharing the announcement through popular messaging app Line with the members of the chat group you’ve designated to receive the news.

▼ Video demonstration of the Unko Button (thankfully with no on-screen unko production)

▼ All changed

▼ And now that you’re done wiping a bottom, it’s time to spread the word.

The name of the Unko Button is slightly misleading, as the box actually has two buttons on it, one to record bowel movements and one for urination. The developers say that the Unko Button is great for busy parents who want to track their infant’s digestive functions, but don’t have the time to stop and record each poop or pee expulsion. In addition to Line notifications, the Unko Button records, in an online app, the exact date and time of the button press, whether your baby pooed or peed, and even lets you write memos regarding color, consistency, and the child’s mood.

▼ Oddly enough, while the poo icon is a realistic brown, the pee drop is blue, making it seem like your baby is excreting purified spring water.

While it’s important for parents to be on the lookout for inconsistencies and irregularities in their baby’s bowel movements, the down-to-the-second record-keeping of the Unko Button seems like a little intense.

▼ Dad pauses for a moment at work as the notification comes in…

▼ …then smiles with as much quiet satisfaction as if he took the dump himself.

▼ Happily adding notes to the poo record at the end of the day

▼ Will this kid’s parents delete his poo records once he’s potty trained, or hold onto them for nostalgic/blackmail purposes?

However, the exact nature of the Unko Button’s records serves a secondary goal of the developers. By showing exactly how often babies need to be changed during the day, the inventors hope that Japanese fathers will come to better understand the pressures of taking care of a small child, and thus be encouraged to pitch in more to give their harried wives a break.

144Lab also points out that while the Unko Button’s default settings are to record pooping and peeing, the pre-set recording text can be altered, allowing the device to be used for things such as tracking your exercise regimen, when your pets have been fed, or even when you yourself last took a poo if you happen to be suffering from constipation recently.

The Unko Button isn’t currently available in stores, and is instead being offered as part of an ongoing crowdfunding campaign here on website Makuake, with reward tiers that include the device starting at 2,520 yen (US$22.50).

Source: Makuake via IT Media
Top image: YouTube/144Lab
Insert images: Makuake, YouTube/144Lab

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’s kind of concerned about the video mom’s half-effort hand-washing before she changed the baby.