In a scientific first, a robot can “smell” using a biological sensor

Researchers from Tel Aviv University have created a robot that can smell and identify odours using a biological sensor. The researchers connected the sensor to an electronic system. They used a machine learning algorithm to detect odours with a level of sensitivity that is 10,000 times higher than that of a commonly used electronic device.

The sensor sends electrical signals as a response to the presence of a nearby odour, which the robot can detect and interpret. According to the University, the researchers say, “The sky’s the limit,” and believe this technology may also be used to identify explosives, drugs, diseases, and more.

The robot was developed by doctoral student Neta Shvil of Tel Aviv University’s Sagol School of Neuroscience, Dr Ben Maoz of the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering and the Sagol School of Neuroscience, and Prof. Yossi Yovel and Prof. Amir Ayali of the School of Zoology and the Sagol School of Neuroscience.

Robot, Can You Smell This?

“Man-made technologies still can’t compete with millions of years of evolution. One area in which we particularly lag behind the animal world is that of smell perception. When they want to check if a passenger is smuggling drugs [at the airport], they bring in a dog to sniff him,” Dr Ben Maoz and Prof. Amir Ayali noted in a statement.

“In the animal world, insects excel at receiving and processing sensory signals. A mosquito, for example, can detect a 0.01 percent difference in the level of carbon dioxide in the air. Today, we are far from producing sensors whose capabilities come close to those of insects.”

Recently researchers from Tel Aviv University also developed a robot that can hear through the ear of a locust. However, the new robot is a biological and technological breakthrough. Humans’ sensory organs use receptors that identify and distinguish between different signals. The sensory organs then translate these findings into electrical signals. Our brains decode these signals and identify them as information. 

As the researchers pointed out, biosensors’ challenge is connecting a sensory organ, like the nose, to an electronic system that knows how to decode the electrical signals received from the receptors. 

Technology Lags Behind Evolution

“We connected the biological sensor [to the electronic system] and let it smell different odors while we measured the electrical activity that each odor induced,” Prof. Yovel claimed. “The system allowed us to detect each odor at the level of the insect’s primary sensory organ.”

“Then, in the second step, we used machine learning to create a ‘library’ of smells. In the study, we were able to characterize 8 odors, such as geranium, lemon, and marzipan, in a way that allowed us to know when the smell of lemon or marzipan was presented. After the experiment was over, we continued to identify additional different and unusual smells, such as various types of Scotch whiskey. A comparison with standard measuring devices showed that the sensitivity of the insect’s nose in our system is about 10,000 times higher than the devices that are in use today.”

“Nature is much more advanced than we are, so we should take advantage of that,” Dr Maoz underlined. “The principle we have demonstrated can be used and applied to other senses, such as sight and touch. For example, some animals have amazing abilities to detect explosives or drugs; the creation of a robot with a biological nose could help us preserve human life and identify criminals in a way that is not possible today. Some animals can detect diseases. Others sense earthquakes. The sky is the limit.”