Background and the problem we address
Urine is the most accessible and least invasive health signal, yet urinalysis has long been tied to hospital laboratory workflows and staff. Chronic kidney disease, diabetes and lower urinary tract dysfunction are usually symptom-free in their early stages, so people do not seek testing on their own; and even when communities, public agencies or workplaces want to offer testing, they lack laboratory staff and consumables budgets to sustain it.
UROBOT places measurement in the spaces people already pass through. Using the urinal completes the measurement: sensors capture uroflow dynamics automatically, with no consumables and no operator, and results are returned instantly and accumulated over time. A venue can run it continuously without adding staff, becoming an extension point of the hospital so that health signals are seen before a person ever walks into one.
UROBOT-R003 (Uroflow Edition) is a standing smart urinal for public restrooms, community health stations, workplaces and residential communities. Users simply use the urinal as usual — no sample collection, no interface to operate. Immediately afterwards the screen shows a uroflow curve and a uroflow-dynamics report; scanning the on-screen QR code opens the result on the user's phone — no app, no account, no phone number.
Testing is consumable-free and contact-free: the 16 uroflow dynamics parameters are measured directly by built-in sensors, with no test strips and no collection container, and no contact between the user and the device, so there is nothing for the venue to restock or replace. Venue operators receive only aggregated statistics that cannot be traced to individuals (a health-trend dashboard) for public-health planning; no individual result is visible to them.
The device holds a Taiwan FDA Class I medical device licence (No. 衛部醫器製壹字第010471號) and is positioned as a measurement device that outputs uroflowmetry and urine-composition values — an early reference indicator for common men's health issues such as benign prostatic hyperplasia and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), suitable for health-bureau stations, community sites, workplaces and public venues.
Current deployment and actual use
The first site is a men's public toilet at the Linsen Office of the Tainan City Public Health Bureau. The venue opened in February 2025 and uroflowmetry measurement has been accumulating since March 2025, with over 3,000 uses by August 2026 (3,015 uses over 514 operating days to 29 July 2026). The authority provides venue, utilities and cleaning from existing staff at no new public cost; the device and back-end system are provided by the company.
Who turns up: 302 users (9.9%) voluntarily scanned the on-screen QR code and entered age, residence, height and weight. Of those, 71.2% were aged 50 or under, against 21.1% under 50 in the national health-insurance claims profile for lower urinary tract symptoms. Placing measurement on an everyday route reaches people who would not otherwise present for this.
Distribution of results: among 221 interpretable records with voided volume ≥150 mL, maximum flow fell below the conventional 15 mL/s referral threshold in 41–47% of men in every age band (44.0% among those aged 50 or under; 20.1% below 10 mL/s). This is not a disease prevalence figure. The 15 mL/s threshold is intended for symptomatic men tested in a clinic; single uncontrolled measurements in an unselected population inevitably yield high rates of deviation. The service provides an objective, trackable reference value and advises seeing a physician; the on-screen report offers no diagnosis.
Follow-up: the station is fully anonymous (no app, no account, no phone number). That is what made this volume possible, but it also means individual follow-up cannot be established — a known limitation. Around nine tenths of users did not complete the form, showing that taking out a phone to scan is itself a second barrier; the host authority has proposed a thermal printer, and the next device generation will lower that barrier with a paper report. Linking to subsequent clinical outcomes would require a partner holding those health records, such as the public health bureau.
These 17 months of operation have been accepted as a scientific poster for the Geneva Health Forum 2026 (10–12 November 2026, Campus Biotech, Geneva) and published open access under CC BY 4.0, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23039887. The full poster can be downloaded directly (PDF, 42 × 75 cm, English): Download the GHF 2026 poster. The second station (Linkou social housing, New Taipei City) is under construction and is scheduled to open in Q4 2026.
