In 2019, Pampers introduced what looked like the future of infant care.
A reusable Bluetooth sensor attached to a specially marked disposable diaper. When the diaper became wet, the system alerted the parent through an app. Combined with a connected camera, it also tracked sleep and helped caregivers record feeding and diaper changes.
The product was called Lumi by Pampers.
It came from Procter & Gamble, the world's largest diaper manufacturer, and was presented as an integrated baby-care system rather than a novelty accessory.
A few years later, Lumi disappeared.
Retailers now mark the product as discontinued, and customers reported being told that its connected service would stop functioning in March 2023. P&G has not publicly provided a detailed explanation for ending the system.
Meanwhile, academic laboratories have continued developing diapers capable of measuring far more than wetness.
Researchers have built prototypes that can detect:
- Nitrite associated with urinary-tract infection screening
- Glucose in urine
- pH
- Temperature
- Moisture
- Electrolytes
- Other chemical biomarkers
The smart diaper did not fail because the sensor concept was impossible.
It ran into a harder problem:
> The feature had to deliver enough everyday value to justify connectivity, specialised supplies, added cost and constant data collection.
*This is one signal from the Consensys Innovation Signals Engine, which continuously scans a library of more than one million products worldwide for emerging shifts in formulation, positioning and consumer demand.*
Signal: Technical Feasibility Without Consumer-Market Fit
**Lumi measured wetness---not infection**
The term smart diaper covers several very different technologies.
Lumi belonged to the simplest commercial category: behaviour and wetness monitoring.
Its reusable sensor attached externally to compatible Lumi diapers and automatically recorded wet events. The larger system combined that information with sleep tracking, video monitoring and manually entered feeding data.
Product: Lumi by Pampers
Brand: Pampers
Manufacturer: Procter & Gamble
Launch: 2019
Primary Functions: Wetness notification, sleep tracking and routine logging
Communication: Bluetooth-connected sensor and mobile app
Lumi did not analyse the chemical composition of urine.
It could tell parents that a diaper had become wet. It could not independently determine whether the child had a urinary infection, diabetes or another medical condition.
Innovation Type: Connected Wetness Monitoring
That distinction is essential because the laboratory systems discussed in the same story belong to a more advanced class of product.
**Academic prototypes are turning the diaper into a diagnostic surface**
A diaper is unusually attractive to sensor researchers.
It collects a biological fluid automatically, without requiring a needle, cup or conscious action from the wearer. The material already transports urine through several absorbent layers, providing opportunities to position disposable sensors inside the product.
In 2017, researchers published a diaper-embedded system designed to screen urine for nitrite, a potential indicator associated with bacterial urinary-tract infection.
The prototype contained:
- A paper-based colorimetric nitrite sensor
- Urine-activated batteries
- Low-power electronics
- Bluetooth Low Energy transmission
- A disposable module embedded into the diaper
Urine powered the system and activated the sensor, which could then transmit a result wirelessly.
Innovation Type: Self-Powered Biomarker Detection
The work demonstrated an important principle:
The waste fluid itself can become both the sample and the power source.
**The prominent UTI prototype was not an A\*STAR invention**
The original database row attributes the wireless UTI-detection diaper directly to Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research---A\*STAR.
That should be corrected.
The widely cited 2017 autonomous nitrite-monitoring system was developed by researchers including W. Seo, W. Yu, T. Tan, B. Jung and B. Ziaie, associated with work at Purdue University.
A\*STAR's role is still important---but different.
In February 2025, researchers from A\*STAR's Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, alongside clinical and international collaborators, published a major review titled "Smart diapers: From wetness monitoring to early diagnosis."
The paper assessed the state of:
- Wetness sensors
- Wireless communication systems
- RFID designs
- Electrochemical sensors
- Biomarker detection
- Commercial smart-diaper products
- Barriers to diagnostic use
The authors concluded that smart diapers were progressing from simple change alerts toward possible early disease detection, but still faced major challenges involving reliability, comfort, cost, communication and clinical translation.
Evidence Correction: A\*STAR Review, Purdue UTI Prototype
**Other prototypes can detect glucose using urine-generated electricity**
Urine glucose can be relevant to diabetes monitoring, although a diaper reading would not replace standard diagnostic testing.
In 2021, researchers demonstrated a paper-based glucose biofuel cell that could be attached to a diaper. The system detected urine and glucose while producing its own electrical output through the biochemical reaction.
This research points toward a future diaper that could combine:
- Sample collection
- Chemical sensing
- Power generation
- Data transmission
inside one disposable platform.
Innovation Type: Urine-Powered Biosensing
But a successful laboratory test does not automatically translate into a safe commercial diagnostic device.
**Screening for a UTI is much harder than detecting moisture**
Wetness is a relatively simple physical event.
The sensor only needs to determine whether moisture has reached a threshold.
UTI screening is more complicated.
Nitrite can be associated with certain urinary bacteria, but:
- Not every UTI produces nitrite.
- Urine may need to remain in the bladder long enough for nitrite to form.
- Some bacteria do not convert nitrate to nitrite.
- Diet and urine concentration can affect results.
- Contamination from faeces may interfere.
- A positive result does not identify the organism.
- A negative result does not always exclude infection.
A smart diaper could therefore provide a screening signal, not a confirmed diagnosis.
Evidence Signal: Potential Early Warning
Not Established: Autonomous UTI diagnosis
A positive or concerning result would still require medical assessment and conventional testing.
**Why Lumi's value proposition was difficult**
Lumi solved a real problem---but one that many parents can already solve quickly.
Most modern disposable diapers include a colour-changing wetness indicator. Caregivers can also check the diaper by sight, touch or routine.
Lumi therefore competed against a very inexpensive existing solution:
Look at the line on the diaper.
The connected system added:
- A reusable sensor
- A dedicated app
- A camera or monitor in some bundles
- Special compatible diapers
- Account setup
- Wireless connectivity
- Notifications
- Data interpretation
The benefit had to justify all that extra infrastructure.
Commercial Barrier: Technology Added to a Low-Complexity Task
For some parents---particularly those monitoring sleep---the automation may have been useful.
For others, a phone notification that the baby had urinated was not valuable enough to change diaper-buying behaviour.
**The system required consumers to enter a controlled ecosystem**
Lumi's sensor worked with diapers designed for the system.
That created dependence on:
- Continued availability of compatible diapers
- Continued operation of the app
- P&G maintaining cloud and software support
- Phone compatibility
- Account access
- Replacement hardware
When the service ended, customers reported that expensive connected equipment became far less useful or unusable.
This illustrates a major weakness of connected disposable products:
> A physical diaper may keep working after the manufacturer ends support. A connected diaper system may not.
Risk Signal: Product Function Dependent on Cloud Support
The consumer was not only buying a sensor.
They were depending on P&G to maintain a digital service for the life of the hardware.
**Smart baby products can produce more anxiety than reassurance**
Connected infant products often promise peace of mind.
They can also increase compulsive monitoring.
Parents may begin checking:
- Every wet event
- Exact sleep duration
- Feeding intervals
- Movement alerts
- Daily behavioural charts
Minor data gaps or false alerts can then feel like emergencies.
Reporting on connected baby technology has documented how uncertain readings and alarms can increase parental anxiety, particularly when products appear medical but lack the certainty of clinical monitoring.
Lumi's wetness data was less alarming than breathing or heart-rate monitoring, but it still contributed to the idea that every part of infant care should be continuously quantified.
Consumer Risk: Data-Driven Parenting Anxiety
**Monit proves the commercial category did not disappear**
The original story describes Pampers Lumi as the single commercial smart diaper.
Korean company Monit provides an important counterexample.
Monit began as a Samsung C-Lab project and developed a reusable sensor that attaches to the outside of a diaper. It uses temperature, humidity and capacitive sensing to detect diaper conditions and send alerts through an app.
The company worked with Huggies on a Korean smart-diaper offering and marketed its baby sensor internationally.
However, Monit's most durable commercial opportunity appears to have shifted from individual parents toward elderly and institutional care.
That market has a different economic logic.
**Adult care may offer a stronger business case**
In a home with one baby, checking a diaper manually is manageable.
In a nursing home, one caregiver may be responsible for many people who use incontinence products.
Without monitoring, staff may need to check residents on a fixed schedule. That can lead to:
- Unnecessary changes
- Delayed changes
- Sleep disruption
- Skin exposure
- High labour requirements
- Incomplete records
Monit's MECS and MECS PRO systems allow multiple diaper users to be monitored centrally.
In 2025:
- MECS was approved for supply through South Korea's long-term-care welfare-equipment system.
- Eligible users could receive substantial public financial support.
- Monit pursued pilots with healthcare organisations in Singapore and Thailand.
- MECS PRO won first place at the Wearable Technologies Innovation World Cup USA 2025.
Innovation Type: Institutional Diaper-Care Management
The technology did not disappear.
It moved toward the customer with the clearest operational return.
**Clinical evidence is stronger in care facilities than in the baby market**
A 2025 study evaluated the effect of a smart diaper sensor using Monit's algorithms in incontinence care.
The system notified caregivers when moisture was detected, allowing changes to be driven by actual events rather than only fixed schedules.
This type of product can potentially create measurable outcomes such as:
- Fewer unnecessary checks
- Faster response after wetting
- Reduced caregiver workload
- Lower use of disposable products
- Improved skin care
- Better documentation
Those benefits are easier to translate into cost savings than a consumer promise of more convenient baby monitoring.
Market Signal: B2B Care Economics Stronger Than Consumer Novelty
**Monit's current activity shows partial commercial success**
Monit is not merely an abandoned startup from the first smart-diaper wave.
Its current company materials show:
- An active baby-monitoring app updated in May 2026
- Continued promotion of baby sensors
- Expansion of MECS and MECS PRO
- Healthcare pilots in Asia
- Planned international institutional distribution
The Monit Smart Baby Care Pro app remained listed in 2026 as a companion for real-time diaper-status monitoring and skin-care management.
The business appears to have survived by broadening the use case beyond parents.
Commercial Strategy: Consumer Technology Repositioned for Care Infrastructure
**RFID could remove the battery and reusable clip**
One route toward a more practical smart diaper is passive radio-frequency identification---RFID.
A low-cost RFID structure can be embedded inside the disposable product and read wirelessly.
Potential benefits include:
- No conventional battery
- Very thin construction
- Lower unit cost
- Disposable sensing element
- Identification and wetness data in one tag
- Central monitoring across many wearers
Researchers have developed conductive-fibre RFID sensors for real-time urine monitoring and newer contactless systems intended to reduce electronic waste.
Innovation Type: Battery-Free Disposable Sensing
The problem is that passive systems still require:
- A nearby reader
- Reliable signals through clothing and bedding
- Accurate interpretation of partial wetness
- Safe materials
- Very low manufacturing cost
A sensor added to every diaper must be cheap enough to be discarded after one use.
**Diagnostic sensors face a much higher regulatory threshold**
A wetness alert is a convenience feature.
A product claiming to identify infection or disease may become a medical device.
That can require evidence covering:
- Sensitivity
- Specificity
- False-positive rate
- False-negative rate
- Interference from faeces or creams
- Performance across ages and diets
- Storage stability
- Manufacturing consistency
- Clinical benefit
- Cybersecurity
- Safe disposal
Innovation Barrier: Medical-Device Validation
The diagnostic diaper must work not only in a controlled laboratory but in real use:
- Different urine volumes
- Movement
- Compression
- Mixed waste
- Varying temperature
- Long storage
- Imperfect positioning
The more important the health claim, the less tolerance there is for an incorrect result.
**Electronics create a disposable-waste contradiction**
Disposable diapers already generate substantial waste.
Embedding batteries, circuits or radio components into every product can increase:
- Material complexity
- Electronic waste
- Recycling difficulty
- Manufacturing impact
- Disposal risk
- Cost
Self-powered paper sensors, printable electronics and passive RFID designs attempt to reduce that conflict.
But the ideal smart diaper must still answer:
Does the health or care benefit justify adding electronics to a single-use product?
Sustainability Risk: Disposable Electronics
A reusable external sensor, as used by Lumi and Monit, avoids putting full electronics into every diaper---but can be less precise because it measures through the outer material rather than contacting the urine directly.
**The strongest commercial product may separate sensing from diagnosis**
The future smart-diaper market may divide into three tiers.
### Tier 1: Wetness monitoring
Alerts caregivers that a change may be needed.
### Tier 2: Behavioural pattern monitoring
Tracks frequency, timing and duration to identify changes over time.
### Tier 3: Biomarker screening
Measures nitrite, glucose, pH or other chemical signals associated with possible health conditions.
Each tier has different:
- Costs
- Evidence needs
- Regulatory requirements
- Users
- Risks
The mistake of the first consumer wave may have been trying to sell a connected ecosystem before the product delivered sufficiently consequential information.
Product Strategy: Match Sensor Complexity to Decision Value
**Babies may not be the first major diagnostic market**
The term smart diaper suggests infant care, but older adults may provide the clearer early market.
Care facilities face:
- High staffing pressure
- Incontinence-related skin problems
- Greater UTI prevalence
- A need for centralised records
- Financial incentives to reduce unnecessary changes
- More immediate value from early warnings
A diagnostic or semi-diagnostic diaper may therefore reach nursing homes before becoming a standard baby product.
This mirrors Monit's evolution from a baby gadget into an elderly-care system.
Market Signal: Ageing-Care Market Pull
**P&G has not explained Lumi's end publicly**
The original research brief proposes asking P&G why Lumi was discontinued.
That remains the most valuable unanswered question.
No detailed public statement was found explaining whether Lumi ended because of:
- Low hardware sales
- Weak repeat purchase of compatible diapers
- High support costs
- Limited consumer demand
- Privacy concerns
- Portfolio changes
- Technical reliability
- The economics of maintaining the app
Retail discontinuation and customer shutdown notices establish that the system ended.
They do not establish why.
Evidence Gap: No Public P&G Post-Mortem
The article should not present an inferred reason as a confirmed corporate decision.
**The lab and market are solving different problems**
Laboratory researchers ask:
Can a diaper detect a biomarker?
Consumer-product teams must ask:
- Will people pay for it?
- Is the result trustworthy?
- Does it change a useful decision?
- Can the sensor survive manufacturing?
- Can it be discarded safely?
- Will the app remain supported?
- Does it reduce work rather than create more?
Lumi demonstrated that being first from a major brand was not enough.
Monit demonstrated that the same basic sensing idea may create more value in professional care.
A\*STAR's review and the Purdue UTI prototype show that the scientific frontier is moving toward disease screening.
The missing step is not invention.
It is building a system that is clinically credible, economically rational and simple enough to survive outside the laboratory.
**Smart diapers are real---the winning use case is still being decided**
The first generation asked parents whether they wanted a phone alert after their baby urinated.
The next generation could ask a more consequential question:
Can the diaper reveal a health change before symptoms become obvious?
That is a much stronger proposition.
It is also far harder to prove.
The future smart diaper may not arrive first as an expensive baby gadget. It may begin in hospitals, nursing homes or specialist care, where staffing pressures and infection risks make continuous monitoring valuable.
Pampers Lumi disappeared because a connected product must offer more than technological possibility.
The sensors in today's laboratories can offer much more.
Whether they become real products will depend on turning a scientific signal into a decision caregivers can trust.