A team of researchers from the University of Tel Aviv has developed A robot that can “feel” using a organic sensor. This sensor sends electrical signals in response to the presence of a neighboring odor, which the robot can detect and interpret.
The researchers successfully connected the organic sensor to an electronic system and, using an automatic learning algorithm, were able to identify odors with a level of sensitivity 10,000 times higher than that of a commonly used electronic device. Scientists believe that developed technology can also be used in the future to identify explosives, drugs, diseases, etc.
According to the researchers: “Artificial technologies cannot still compete with millions of years of evolution. An area in which we are particularly lagging behind the animal world is that of the perception of the smell. An example of this can be found at the airport where we go through a magnetometer which costs millions of dollars and can detect if we carry metal devices.
Researchers note that, in general, our sensory organs, such as eyes, ears and nose, use receptors that identify and distinguish different signals, as well as those of all other animals. Then, the sensory organ converts the information received into electrical signals, which the brain then decodes. The challenge of biosaper is to connect a sensory organ such as the nose to an electronic system which can decode the electrical signals received from the receivers.
“We connected the organic sensor and lets a different odors felt while we measured the electrical activity that each odor induced. The system allowed us to detect each odor at the main sensory organ of the insect. Then, in the second step, we used automatic learning to create a ‘` library' ‘of the smell. Yovel, one of the scientists of the development team.
In the future, researchers plan to create a navigation system for the robot which will allow it to locate the source of odor, then identify it.
