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Technology

NASA's E-Nose: It Smells, But It's Improving 91

Posted by timothy from the sir-do-you-have-anything-to-declare? dept.
ahaning writes: "Yes, even NASA has succumbed to the "e + (someword)" phenomenon. The E-Nose is apparently one of the toys they took along with them on the last shuttle mission. NASA engineers are currently working on making the tool smaller and enabling it to "sniff" out more chemicals. One of the more interesting uses that they give for us on earth is determining whether a plant is ripe enough for harvest. Perhaps someday we could have huge robots out in the middle of a field with nanobugs roaming the place, checking the fruits and vegetables. When they find a ripe one, they signal the robot with their position and it reaches out and plucks the thing carefully off of the plant. That would be cool." Anti-counterfiting, explosive detection, apply-deodorant alert ... the possibilities are endless. What would you use an electronic nose for?
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NASA's E-Nose: It Smells, But It's Improving More

NASA's E-Nose: It Smells, But It's Improving

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  • why don't the dogs use the 'net?
    they can't smell it.

  • Laundry day would be much less risky when you can send a robot on a search and destroy misson for the worst offendors.

  • Let's not forget society's doublethink that prohibition of alcohol in the earlier part of our century didn't work, started the mob out in the US, etc., but the prohibition of recreational drugs is a good thing because they think it STOPS such activity.

    duh. The war on drugs is a joke.

  • I would use it in my fridge to find if that pizza is still ok(and how old some things are in there without the Carbon 14 dating)
    It is a geeks dream to sit behind your computer and recive an mial like :

    Trom : frige@y2kbunker.net
    To : root@foo.net
    Subject : Pizza and Milk
    WARNING pizza is getting bad, must be eaten before the end of the day
    NOTICE The lifeforms in the milkjar have just invented the wheel.

  • Re:Why? (Score:1)

    by SGC ( 32504 )
    There's an article here at SmokeDot about how and why marijuana became illegal, and I think it illustrates some of the petty reasons they became illegal in the first place, even though now those reasons have been buried.


    Something I've heard which would be interesting if proven true, is that the tobacco industry was one of the biggest lobbying groups behind the illegalization of marijuana. I know if I could get cigarettes, which definitely are addictive, and give me a slight buzz, or pot, which definitely will get me high, but isn't as addictive, I'd go for the pot.


    I also find it funny that alchohol is legal while drugs like acid and pot are illegal. Sure, people flip out on acid sometimes. But how many times do people beat the crap out of each other thanks to alchohol? My guess would be every night of the week somewhere in this country.


    I personally find drug use to be like a dirty little secret that no one wants to talk about. More people do drugs than most realize, but are afraid to admit it, due to the stigma attached. Not to mention how many people in this country are DRUG ADDICTS thanks to the tobacco industry. I love how cigarettes fall into a different category simply because they're not a very powerful drug.

  • After reading this all I can think of is that one scene in the Matrix with the AI's harvesting the field of humans.
  • There are many artificial noses out there, and companies besides aromascan, such as Cyrano.

    DARPA, the people who brought you the internet, recently sponsored the Dogs Nose Project involving several different artificial nose designs. The purpose of this project was to find something to replace dogs in finding land mines.

  • This is still offtopic, but it seems to be a small portion of general interest, so I thought I'd post this. A new movie is coming out about the "war" for the legalization of marijuana directed by Woody Harrelson called Grass. Here's an information snippet from Moviefone.com [moviefone.com]:

    Woody Harrelson, who is known for his vocal support for the legalization of hemp, narrates this documentary which looks at the last 100 years of marijuana use, culture, and legislation, compiled from 400 hours of archival footage.
  • ...I'd give that damn toucan a much-needed vacation.

    "Follow the electronic nose! It always knows!"
    --

  • huhuh (Score:1)

    by aphr0 ( 7423 )
    I'd use it to sniff my butt!
    HUHUHUHUHUHUHUUHHUHUUHUHUHHUHUHUUHHUUHHUUH
  • I saw an interview on NASA TV with the lead scientist on the e-nose project, and, IIRC, she mentioned that there were 'many' human maladies that they suspected could be easily screened for with this device (pending further development), and that this might be one of the first commercial applications, kind of implying that some company was already working on it.

    They also showed the box opened up, and it was mostly empty - meaning it should be able to be easily reduced in size from it's already small form-factor.
  • Can I really wear this shirt another day?? Ask the E-Nose!
  • I've seen those things. They are dialed in to pick up greater than normal amounts of certain chemicals. I think a large potassium hit could indicate marijuana or worse, a bunch of bananas. But if I remember right the damn thing weighed a ton and cost a fortune.
  • Dude, I never even smoked a CIGARETTE, let alone a joint. However, I am sympathetic to their cause. That is possible without being a user. Also, I was referring more to the doublethink issue than to the drug one.
  • As if. Almost all fresh fruit is picked before it is mature, and brought to maturity artificially during shipping.

    The immature fruit are less susceptible to handling damage.

    So they pick before it's ready, add dyes to make it look good, and ripen it during shipping or storage, or don't even bother ripening it at all, and let consumers think that the fruit is ripening at home, when it's really just going bad.

    Almost no one that is reading this has tasted truly fresh, tree-ripened fruit.

    You wouldn't believe how good it is.

    Especially worth trying to get is a vine-ripened tomato. You'll quite buying that crap they sell at the store!

    (ah, but the same can be said for peaches and nectarines!)

    (I won't mention canned fruit. Shudder.)

    --
  • With those e-noses nasa can control who the hell is smoking marihuana in the space-shuttle. :-)

    I wonder if the computers would get "stoned" too. :-)

    --
    "take the red pill and you stay in wonderland and I'll show you how deep the rabitt hole goes"
  • I can honestly say that I have never used drugs (beyond cough syrup) and never had the desire too. Also, I have seen friends die from overdose, and other friends fall apart as drug use consumed them.

    Having said that I still think that the "WAR ON DRUGS" is a stupid and pathetic cause. Personally, I feel the government needs to stop trying to protect people from themselves and let them go at it. If they want to OD, let them. If they want to get bombed every weekend, let them. If they want to do things that seem stupid to the majority, let them. I just feel like the only regulation of drug use is that you shouldn't be driving a car when using (just like drunks). Other than that, let a person do whatever he wants with them. As long as I'm not forced to use them, I don't want to keep others from them.

    This may sound cold, but if people use them to the point that it hurts thier lives, so be it. They made that choice, it is up to them to deal with the consequences. Eventually, those that are stupid enough to abuse will fall apart and disappear from society (not entirely, but they will not be significant anymore, just like most drunks aren't). If others are hurt, then we do something abou it. If they hurt a spouse/child/friend (physically hurt) then they are locked up. The abuse would happen, but it would also be dealt with if it got to the point of hurting others. Isn't that what happens with alch?

    This would end the little pockets of filth that have sprung up in many cities that are based on the "business" of drugs. Make it so you can buy your drugs at a decent business, and that will end the damn run-down crime-ridden inner cities. It would also deal with the big drug cartels. Allow drugs to be imported, and tax them. There you go, end the illegal status, and make some money for the government at the same time. Now what's wrong with that?
  • Scratch 'n sniff - movies in "Smell-o-rama" - the upcoming 'tele-fragrance' will soon be available to enhance your web browsing experience. A very old "Popular Electronics" mag had a 'Carl and Jerry' episode involving a fragrance synthesizer - but for the "e-nose" some microwave ovens have some kind of organic molecule sensor to help determine when the meal was 'done', as a general rule (not always true) once you can smell it it's about ready.
  • You misunderstand me, my friend. I don't consider this a good thing at all; merely inevitable.

    The War on (Some) Drugs is not only a dismal failure and a complete waste of resources but also an active evil which harms both individuals and society as a whole. I no longer use drugs myself (other than cafeine) but my personal history with them is rather extensive. I've enjoyed their use and seen first hand the tragedy of their misuse. I don't encourage their use but neither do I think that your personal use is grounds for me to use force against you to prevent it.

  • Having just read Farenheit 451 (sat on my bookshelf for 5 years, but I was prodded to action by a recent slashdot review), I'd want what every good totalitarian state official would want -- one of them mechanical hounds. Of course, I'd only use it for good...

  • Re:Technology is amazing! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The possibility of someone sending an email that triggers a release of toxic gas from an HP AROMAgadget (TM), leads to a whole new level of abuse for the virus writers of tomorrow.
  • 1 - Record smells of all planets and moons of solar system.

    2- Build a cheap device which reverses the process, allowing people to playback the electronic smells. Have this device built-in in consumer PC's / network appliances, just like audio cards.

    3 - Set-up the web site and start selling smell of space. Of course, you need to have in place UCITA-like laws to protect your IP.

    Oh, I almost forgot :

    0 - Go for IPO. Gets huge amount of cash. Then forget about points 1,2,3. After all, nobody is really expecting that you fulfil their expectations, are they?

  • - drug/bio-weapon sniffing at the airport
    - sensitive smoke alarm/carbon monoxide alarm
    - security/burglar alarm
    - an apparatus that knows when not to approach a female
  • Yupp, now we just have to wait for the iNose too, made in sickening puke green and transparent plastics! Yay!

  • The applications for this device seem more promising at first glance than if one really sits down to think about them. No doubt, there will be applications where superficial chemical properties need to be examined and a descision needs to be taken based on input derived from those properties, but in a chemical analysis situation, more detailed methods need to be implemented.

  • Does this sound a little like the fields where the robots grew people in the Matrix. Ummmm growing fields.
  • Use it to smell out horny women.
  • I would not use the E-nose to smell 3 things:

    1) Money. God I love that smell.
    2) New Hardware. You know what I'm talking about when you buy a new toy and its got that aroma rising from the circuit board.
    3) New Car Smell. Nuff said.

    Plus a few unmentionables. ;)
  • I agree that sensors could be an important safety measure, but I'd strongly suggest then gas companies add a better tracer (or directly test for a component of the gas itself) The current tracers (like butyl mercaptan) were chosen because the human nose can pick them up ay extraordinary dilutions, probably near the limit of sensor resolution. (so an e-nose trying to be as sensitive than a human nose will have many false positive. Depending on who you listen to, a single drop (or ml or oz.) of butyl mercaptan would fill the AstroDome football stadium with detectable odor.

    BTW I know its none of my business (and I have no idea of your step-sister's situation), but anosmia -- the loss of the sense of smell -- is absolutely no impediment to independent living. It would be a shame for someone to have their entire life molded by such a foolish misconception (Any MD will confirm that anosmics can live alone -- It's actually not an uncommon condition.)

    The Olfactory nerve is actually not a nerve at all but a direct extension of the brain (a tract). The nucleus/soma (main body) of the cells in this nerve are actually in the brain itself, and the 'nerve' is just made of extensions called axons. The olfactory nerve is entirely wrapped in the same meninges as the rest of the brain

    The olfactory tract extends to cover a thin, spongy, perforated region of bone (the cribiform plate) where it synapses (links to) cells that send ultra thin tendrils, often single axons through the bone to the "roof of the upper nose" (the area above the superior turbinate or concha)

    A blow to the head can partially or totally detach the nerve as it passes to or through the cribiform plate. Many other things can cause temporary or permanent loss of smell, where 'temporary' may mean 'years' (BTW -- loss of the sense of smell is the first, usually unnoticed, sign of Alzheimers)

    Sounds like Step-mom doesn't think step-sis is ready to live on her own (and she may be right, but using an excuse like this is inappropriate.

  • Perhaps someday we could have huge robots out in the middle of a field with nanobugs roaming the place, checking the fruits and vegetables. When they find a ripe one, they signal the robot with their position and it reaches out and plucks the thing carefully off of the plant. That would be cool."

    Wow, that sounds almost like something people can do! Maybe next they'll invent a crappy moderator-simulacrum that automatically generates commentary as bad as Timothy's on demand! ooooh!

    • Industrial processes
    • Environmental toxins and pollutants
    • Space station air quality
    • Medicine / body functions
    • Food processing
    • Military enviromnent
    • Toxicology
    From the JPL Electronic Nose [nasa.gov] page. Some other interesting resources:

  • I would use it in my car's air conditioning system. When it smells anything that I don't want to smell, it automatically changes the air conditioning to recirculate.
    • I love to sit and write code

    • When I get in a programming mode
      Compile and run
      It is so much fun
  • Was there any question??

  • I think I'd use an electronic nose to snort electronic coke. >;P

  • Nice idea.. except for one thing. Terrorists actually DONT CARE if the bomb goes off or not unless they are after a particular individual. The city bombs (the ones that turned up whilst I was living in London and the latest crop of silliness) are placed to cause disruption. It doesnt matter a monkeys fart to these guys whether the disruption is caused by some waste bin blowing itself to hades or by the bomb squad having to clear the area around said can and roll out a wheelbarrow (the name for the standard bomb-disposal robot for those readers unfamiliar with brit army hardware ;) ) to carry out a controlled explosion on an old Macdonalds bag that was simply sprinkled with a nitrate fertiliser before being crumpled up and tossed in the enose-equipped bin. In fact they might just prefer that option since this way they get their disruption in the lives of londoners without the bad press of actually blowing anything up..

    However it does put a new twist on the long-running jokes at the inefficiencies of the Tube. (As a many-years veteran of the misery line I feel qualified to comment on that one!) "Bank station is closed due to a bad smell and all trains are non-stopping..." Wonder how they'd get it to tell the diff between the nitrates of an explosive and the stench of stale piss in some of those older stations...


    # human firmware exploit
    # Word will insert into your optic buffer
    # without bounds checking

  • And I can't wait to see how fast countermeasures become even more dangerous;

    Active intervention (counter microbots)
    Passive intervention (environmental blocks)
    Misdirection (drugs next door!)
    Modification (alter the dogs themselves)
    Malevolent (alter the dogs to bite the innocent, destroying public faith, risk of actual physical harm in deploying them)
  • As the "best Slashdot article title - ever".
  • "We're sorry, this elevator will be temporarily unavailable due to broccoli, nachos and excessive use of curry. The elevator will return online as soon as ventilation completes."
  • An Electronic nose clipon for my Palm or Visor would be most useful after a business lunch. PalmNose could tell me whether I should consider popping a breathmint before venturing out into society.

    Definitely won't be released for Windows CE as the E-Nose SDK for Windows' lousy interface with the hardware had the software convinced I smelled like a yak, and should consider popping a cyanide pill.

    Oh... Wait a minute, that happens WHENEVER I use Windows...

  • Selling used panties on ebay.

    How else will you know they're, uh, 'ready'?

  • Our taste buds can only recognize a few basic tastes so our noses have to fill in the blanks, as it were. In theory, the e-nose could be harnessed for all sorts of purposes:

    Kid: I don't want it! It looks yucky!

    Parent: It's yummy! Daddy likes it!

    Kid: No! It looks yucky!!

    Parent: (pulls out the e-nose) Even Mr. Nose says it's yummy.

    Kid: Well in that case....


    Researcher: Eureka! Caviar Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream!

    Tester: (pulls out the e-nose) Sorry, bud, it only scores a 3.8 on the sniffer here. No can do.

    Just think of it... a definitive way to measure the ultimate pizza....
  • Speaking of which, possible uses for this include alarm systems that trigger when certain odors (like the odor added to gas) are detected or warning lights in car when odors like burning oil are detected.

    It's ratter silly to require an expensive appartus like an electronic nose to smell for gaz and oil leaks when all you really need is a match.
  • How about an application to allow e-dogs to sniff eachothers butts?
  • Smell-U-Smell-Me is one step closer...
  • Obviously, they have seen a bit of Futurama - do you rememeber professor's smell-o-meter? Was it GPLed? And what with the waste?

    I have an alter-ego at Red Dwarf. Don't remind me that coward.

  • We can install them in elevators! (Score:5)

    by darylp ( 41915 ) on Monday June 12, 2000 @12:28AM (#1009527)
    That way we can always know with pinpoint accuracy who REALLY farted!

  • I'm sure Tycho Brahe would have had use for NASA's E-Nose. Fitting, since he made so many contributions to astronomy.

    Donny
  • Who knows what else this could be used for! The possiblities are endless. Just don't let something like this get in the hands of elementary school kids... Imagine the hell they'd raise in the classrooms!

  • Old joke... (Score:4)

    by Psiren ( 6145 ) on Monday June 12, 2000 @12:31AM (#1009530)
    My Aibo has no e-nose.
    How does it smell?
    Terrible!

    Oh come on, someone has to say it! ;-)

    Now weary traveller, rest your head. For just like me, you're utterly dead.
  • jeez, the possabilities are endless.. personally I would use it to: gauge the quality of some wicked herb sniff out bombs/explosives check toxin levels in tunnels/mines etc...
  • Hey the ultimate test for an arificial nose would be to test perfumes for acceptibility. Also maybe u cld send one to mars and tell us does it stink as much as earth.

  • Possible uses for an e-nose (Score:5)

    by Raindeer ( 104129 ) on Monday June 12, 2000 @12:46AM (#1009533) Homepage Journal
    Well the following three uses come to my mind:

    1. Smelling if food can still be eaten, or if it has evolved too far already. Very handy in dorms like mine
    2. Smelling out female feromones, this way you don't need to spend all that money on a girl who doesn't like you anyways. Along the same line would be an application that tells you the perfume she is wearing. Makes good pick-up lines.
    3. Lie-detector, based on the increase in sweating of a person. Crude, but it might help in finding out if the Market-droid really is telling the truth

    There might also be more sound uses, but then again, technology is never used for the things it was intended for.

  • obviously to smell fear

    "Yield, Bitch!!. My e-nose can smell your terror!!"

  • Electronic drug dogs and electronic bloodhounds. Sounds like the whole project is going to the dogs. (Ouch! Put down the rotten tomatoes, OK?)

  • Oops, yeah, I misread the italicised bits of your post... doh! But no, as both a user and someone concerned with personal rights, the whole thing does indeed sicken me - it seems to be an issue which is being kept alive for political capital and media scandal despite the fact that a significant number of people are pro-drugs. Unfortunately, speaking up about this is just asking to be demonised... yet again the law is forcing a social attitude on a society where that attitude is not wanted.

  • I have never used any (illegal) drugs, and have no desire to start. I think drugs are a problem for our society, with the possible exception of marajuna, which is, IMHO, far less harmful than tobacco. However harmful drugs are, the war on drugs is exponentionally more harmful.

    Banning substances that a significant portion of the population wants is beyond absurd, and I thought we had learned our lesson with prohibition. Like prohibiton, the drug war has spawned a huge cirminal underground. Prohibition invented the mob, the drug war is continuing to fund it. Drug Cartels ravage Central America with a practical reign of terror in some countries (the Columbian Army is afraid to go into the southern portion of the country where the druglords rule supreme). In this country, the prisons are full with nonviolent offenders of drug laws, and perpertrators of thousands of drug-distribution crimes, many violent.

    This is all in addition to the indignities (blood test anyone?) that even those of us who have no contact with drugs have to face. There is no doubt in my mind that many of the more invasive law enforcement techniques in the near future will be an attempt to find those who use drugs.

    All in the name of protecting people from themselves.

  • I think drugs are a problem for our society, with the possible exception of marajuna, which is, IMHO, far less harmful than tobacco.

    Whilst I agree with your post in general, I think that the only reason drugs are a problem for society is because of the whole war on drugs and the attitude it has spawned - do you consider alcohol to be a problem for society despite the fact that it is worse than a lot of illegal drugs?

    No, drugs can be very bad for individuals given misuse, as with anything, but their effects on society are minimal. Look at Holland, where they have been decriminalised. Does the society suffer for it? No, individuals might, but their society seems pretty damn stable and sane to me.

    As for drug tests et al, they're such a bad idea. Not only are they invasive and a threat to your personal privacy, but a lot of the people I know who do a hell of a lot of drugs work in those sorts of places anyway and go out every weekend and get fucked. Doesn't seem to have made them lose their jobs because they're drug-crazed wasters...

    Oh yeah, sorry about the rant.

  • What about people with no smell? That's not a joke, BTW.

    You know who ELSE doesn't have a sense of smell? You would if you'd listened to every episode of Geeks in Space [thesync.com]. Yes! That's right! Our very own Rob Malda. Err. Yeah. So, don't feel like no one knows what you're talking about. I'm sure he does.

  • A number of cancer researchers have found evidence that dogs (with their superior sense of smell) can detect certain kinds of cancer. Melanoma being the most obvious because it's outside the body. Sounds like if someone can create a sensitive enough smelling device, it could go a long way in the area of cancer detection.

  • (Sorry to perpetuate a geek stereotype, but I've been exposed to it often enough... :-)

    It's a geek accessory. It can smell. Therefore its default driver installation should take an occasional sniff, and if events merit, should display a message box saying GO TAKE A SHOWER .*

    Sean.

    * Also useful - a BURN OLD SNEAKERS and CHECK DOG STILL ALIVE messages.

  • >even NASA has succumbed to the
    >"e + (someword)" phenomenon.

    You mean the E-word phenomenon?
  • If I had a fleet of these, I'd deploy one in every computer lab in every university, to inform people when they need to spend more time in the shower and less time in front of a computer....

    Perhaps then I could breathe and code at the same time....

  • What would I use an electronic nose for?


    It would be linked into my mediated reality and object/person recognition rig, of course. Yet another data point...
    ---

  • You mean the E-word phenomenon?

    We're about to require escaping any word that legitimatly starts with 'e', like

    \electronic
  • Could it detect when my GF is ovulating?
    How about if she's horny?
    Could it do this unintrusively?
    Could it detect my testosterone level?
    I suppose many illnesses could be diagnosed...

    Ah, why bother!

  • Someone needs to get a prototype eNose [nasa.gov] and a prototype iSmell [digiscents.com], and chain them together in a recursive loop so both can hone their skills, though the final result might be like in the Matrix:
    • "But how do you know that that's what Tasty Wheat really tastes like? Maybe it's just what the computers think it tastes like. Maybe that's why so many things taste like Chicken, because they don't know how it's supposed to taste!"

    Kevin Fox

  • Believe it or not, there are quite a few people who do believe that alcohol is a problem for society. In fact, nearly everyone with two functioning brain cells to rub together probably realizes that alcohol abuse, drunk driving, etc. are very serious problems indeed.

    The people who are interested in the legalization of marijuana inevitably point to alcohol as the reason why marijuana should be legalized, and yet alcohol abuse is one of the biggest societal problems that we have (worldwide). It is absolutely amazing the percentage of crimes that are committed while under the influence of alcohol, the amount of deaths due to drunk driving, and the amount of physical abuse that can be directly attributed to alcohol. So saying that marijuana is "less harmful than alcohol" is setting the bar quite low.

    In fact, alcohol is so dangerous to society that the U.S. at one point made it illegal. And it would probably still be a controlled substance except for the fact that alcohol is too darn easy to manufacture illegally.

    As for drug tests, your employer has rights too. For example, employers don't want to hire people that are likely to come to work in an "altered state." And so in order to apply for work at most employers you are required to pass a voluntary drug test. If you feel that this is an invasion of your privacy you are perfectly free to apply elsewhere. The fact that some "drug-crazed wasters" are able to circumvent these tests does not make them any less valid. For every drug abuser that gets away there are some that get caught. At the very least it forces the drug users to be cautious, and that makes the world safer for all of us.

    Believe me, people lose their jobs for drug abuse on a regular basis. We had a rather large drug bust where I work just a few months ago. People lost their jobs and will never work here again.

  • Rather than using dogs, you could use one of those suckers to track criminals through the woods, search for lost skiiers, search for earthquake victims in rubble... the list is endless. Of course for the thing to be worth it would have to be more sensitive than a dog, cost-effective, and hand-held.

    Mechanik

  • <SING>
    to stop the ones who want [tmbg.org]
    prosthetic foreheads on their real heads!

    </SING>
    official site here [tmbg.com]

  • What would you use an electronic nose for

    for treating the boss nicely without soiling the real one.

  • But what if you're out of matches?

    --

  • Electronic dogs (Score:3)

    by B'Trey ( 111263 ) on Monday June 12, 2000 @12:53AM (#1009553)
    I'm not sure what it should be used for, but I can tell you what it will be used for: electronic drug dogs. Posted on every street corner, at every building entrance.
  • the poison sniffer, ala Dune, but somehow I really think that has less to do with smell then it sounds. And nobody has brought up scent trails, couldnt you theoretically, tell where someones recently been with such a device? or tell which way they went at least? ---evel aka matt "i say mean, you say cheese" -meaty-cheesey-boys
  • Well, apart from some kind of comment involving smelling hot grits as they pour over NaTaLiE PoRtMaN... :-)

    You could use an accurate e-nose to sniff pheromones and no withing seconds whether the person next to you is the right girl/guy for you. How much time/wasted money/emotional trauma would that save?

    You might also use the same e-nose to recognize a human-being's characteristic odour as a form of identity verification... but then somebody could just steal your clothes and impersonate you. But it might help as an addition to biometrics... one day we'll just have a Hitchhiker's-guide style platic card containing all our biometric information :->

  • First, it will give us a web device to transmit smell [cnn.com], then it will give us an e-nose, so we don't have to smell our own peripheral!

    What could be more convenient then smelling the roses from the convenience of your own desk? Having the computer smell the e-roses for you. Once we perfect the e-toilet, you'll never have to leave your cubicle again.
  • See, I'm not trying to imply any wrongdoing on my part, but I recently visisted Amsterdam, and my laptop bag was 'run-through-the-wringer' by security forces on the way back. They had a wand about the size of B-B-Q lighter, you know, vaguely pistol shaped and a lurid 12" long. Also, they rubed the sensor tip vigourously along the zippers for some reason. The whole experience was creepy, reminded me of that scene from Total Recall with that skeleton x-ray scene.

    :)Fudboy
  • you really dont keep up on these things, do you? ;-) the "sensor tip" they rubbed along your zippers was to pick up explosive traces on the zipper from your hands in case you had handled explosives. they then stick the sensor tip in a machine that analyzes it... has nothing to do with scent

  • In this case, the feedline was backwards. It should be

    My nose has no Dog.....
  • Right, that's it. I've probably seen it's mangled name in NASA internal plans of e-nose.... ;-))

    I have an alter-ego at Red Dwarf. Don't remind me that coward.

  • Human Implant (Score:4)

    by Hrunting ( 2191 ) on Monday June 12, 2000 @03:41AM (#1009561) Homepage
    What's the likelihood that this thing can be adapted for human use? I mean, Stevie Wonder is supposedly going to try getting his vision back through some artificial means. What about people with no smell? That's not a joke, BTW. My stepsister really doesn't have a sense of smell. Her mother won't let her live alone because she can't smell things like gas leaks or burning food in the oven.

    Speaking of which, possible uses for this include alarm systems that trigger when certain odors (like the odor added to gas) are detected or warning lights in car when odors like burning oil are detected. I bet a real market for something like this can be had in alarms and triggers based on smell.
  • On the net, no-one can tell you're a sniffer dog...
  • Well, writing from London UK I would be very happy if they could develop this nose to sniff out semtex/sugar+fertiliser explosives. We just had another "explosive device" go off last week, and once again the City is ringed by traffic checkpoints and the police are stopping anyone driving a transit van (why is it always a transit van?). They could use this device on all vehicles and passengers coming over from Ireland, for instance, and perhaps put back some of the rubbish bins (translation - trash cans) that they took away from all our train and underground stations after the bomb at Victoria Station. Any receptacle in a public place could have a sensor fitted that would set off an alarm if it sensed explosive.
  • And I'm not joking: I think it would be great to have some sort of butler looking robot with e nose, that'll take some people aside as they come within larger groups of people, and explain them the reason and use of bath or shower and deodorants; in my former job I had a colleague who'd have been much more pleasant to work with, had the knowledge ever penetrated through to him, but as it was, everyone was too embarrassed to tell him, or else he ignored their advice. And I'm not talking about a light hint of perspiration, no, I'm talking about all-out chemical warfare of a sweat buildup, only achieved through careful avoidance of soap and water.

    Which brings me to the other side of the aroma balance: one of my former friends did use aftershave and stuff, only he had a severe problem with getting the dosage right; having a robot tell him "Sir, your aftershave is so strong, my nose went offline: I suggest in the future you apply a little less, so the people eating next to you can actually smell their food instead of you." would be much called for. 'They'd like you better if you didn't smell like an accident in the perfume factory." Luckily he has a girlfriend, who must have told him something along those lines, because in time it became much better. But yes, a non-human to draw the extremes of the aroma scale of their nasal effrontery would be ever so nice. Because when a fellow human tells them, they often take offence.

    Also very handy for when your own nose, due to a cold or something, doesn't work properly: "How do I smell, James?" 'Nothing a shower can't take care of, sir.' "Right, I feared as much. Hand me that towel, please."

    Stefan, whose nose still functions quite well even if he smokes.

  • do you rememeber professor's smell-o-meter?

    Not to be pedantic, (OK, maybe TO be pedantic) but that would be the smelloscope.
    ___

  • the ultimate test for an arificial nose would be to test perfumes for acceptibility

    And I think that is one thing, such a nose will almost certainly never be able to do, as smell is a very subjective thing. Remember, must perfumes are made of ingredients, which by themselves fall in the "Not nice" category. But who knows, maybe with a self-learning AI and the multitude of examples it could be given...

    Stefan, not smelling like roses, since I just got up. ;-)

  • Not news.

    The electronic nose was developed 10 years ago at U.M.I.S.T in Manchester, UK.

    http://www.dias.umist.ac.uk/

    I hated the place when I was there (Still do, Manchester's a dump) but they definitely had an electronic nose.

    The guys who developed it also started a company to sell the things (aromascan).

  • thanks. I thought they were sniffing for contraband smokables. I was clean on either count! and come to think of it, yes they did stick it in a box afterwords.

    One question though: aren't they in effect still 'sniffing' for explosives, by turning the chemical traces into information? in other words, just what constitutes 'scent' anyway?


    :)Fudboy
  • whoa, your fermones make my e-nose swing, how about if we get to your place to be naked.

  • but... (Score:1)

    by semis ( 14252 )
    can it packet-sniff?

    ok. ok. lame joke :)

  • Why? (Score:2)

    by spiralx ( 97066 )

    I'm curious at to why you believe that that would be a good thing. Do you approve of the rediculous efforts spent on the whole "War on Drugs" and the significant blows to individual liberty that it has bought with it? Having electronic drug sniffers on every street corner, whilst maybe effective, sounds like as big an invasion of privacy as any I can imagine.

    Now, I may be a bit biased here, enjoying drugs on a recreational level here myself, but even apart from that I've still yet to hear a single good reason why drugs in general are such a menace to society that they must be demonised and their users treated as the worst kind of criminal.

    There's an article here [baked.net] at SmokeDot about how and why marijuana became illegal, and I think it illustrates some of the petty reasons they became illegal in the first place, even though now those reasons have been buried.

  • whoa, your fermones make my e-nose swing, how about if we get to your place to be naked.

    keep trying, you'll get it one day... maybe

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