Google’s sister company to launch smart nappies that send alerts when your child sleeps - and soils themselves

Parents can monitor their children's bowel movements remotely thanks to new technology developed by Verily - Caiaimage

Google's sister company Verily has partnered with US consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble (P&G) to sell “smart nappies" that can tell parents when their baby is sleeping and send a text warning when a nappy is soiled.

This technology is designed to help parents and caregivers avoid the dreaded "nappy sniff test", and works through a smart sensor inside a nappy that can classify whether it contains stool or urine remotely.

Parents can receive warnings to change a nappy through their smartphones, and can also monitor their baby's sleep habits remotely.

The new product, called Lumi, will be sold by P&G brand Pampers in the US from this autumn and is expected to be launched in the UK soon afterwards. The company has not confirmed the price.

Verily, formerly known as Google Life Sciences, filed a patent for the smart nappy last year, demonstrating how the system would  send different alarms depending on what has been detected in the nappy.

At the time, the new product sparked privacy concerns over who could gain access to children's data.

Verily patented a "smart" nappy system last year Credit: Verily

The companies said individual babies’ data will only be shared by parents, but that they plan to use aggregated data to improve the product.

P&G said that it will use advanced encryption standard (AES), a cypher also used by the US government to protect data, as well as multi-layer security to transfer and secure data.

A P&G spokesperson said: "The Lumi system uses industry standard protections, designed for the highly regulated area of financial services, to store and protect your audio, video and sensor data in the cloud.

"Only Lumi by Pampers account holders with their valid credentials will be able to access the their baby’s data on the Lumi app."

This is Verily's first major product to go to market since it raised $1bn (£791m) to grow its business earlier this year.

The Alphabet subsidiary struggled with the development of other products, halting the development of its glucose-monitoring contact lense project and encountering obstacles with its clinical smartwatch.