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TECH: This gadget will keep track of your farts – Metro US

TECH: This gadget will keep track of your farts

We’ve got wearables to monitor our heart rate, sleep patterns – and now, eh-hem, our farts. The CH4 wearable and app helps you work out which food gives you flatulence. The gadget, named after the chemical formula for odoriferous methane – sits in your back pocket or clips to your belt and tracks the amount of methane gas your bottom is burping. A paired smartphone app syncs with the device and gives meal suggestions to improve your eating habits. Metro spoke with Rodrigo Narciso, Brazilian-born graduate student at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, on why he developed the rude-sounding gadget.


Farts are a normal, if somewhat crude, aspect of the human body. Why do we need to monitor them?

— Perhaps to avoid awkward social situations or for whatever other reason they think this might be necessary. Since the average person farts 13 times a day in normal conditions, people may want to learn how to adapt the eating habits to lower their number of farts emitted.

Will users, and their bottoms, not be bothered by a device in their back pocket?

— I agree and I have been thinking about the implications of the current shape. If my prototype goes to manufacturing, I can certainly use much smaller components that will help create a much more discreet product. Also I have not had the time yet to test prototypes that can be placed further away.

You’re seeking funds for the device on Kickstarter. What’s been the reaction from potential users?

— People are divided. Some love it, some think it’s not interesting and some think it’s just a joke or a parody. Actually I’ve been receiving many messages from people who have been suggesting many uses for the product that I did not think of before.

Do you intend to launch CH4 even it the campaign didn’t work?

— Maybe. We will analyze all possibilities at the end of the campaign.