Article: Device records smells to play back later

[Guest guest]

Smell-o-vision, here we come ..

 

*Smile*

Chris (list mom)

http://www.alittleolfactory.com

 

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http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/mg19125586.300?DCMP=NLC-nletter &

nsref=mg19125586.300

Device records smells to play back later

29 July 2006

NewScientist.com news service

Paul Marks

 

IMAGINE being able to record a smell and play it back later, just as you

can with sounds or images.

 

Engineers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan are building an

odour recorder capable of doing just that. Simply point the gadget at a

freshly baked cookie, for example, and it will analyse its odour and

reproduce it for you using a host of non-toxic chemicals.

 

The device could be used to improve online shopping by allowing you to

sniff foods or fragrances before you buy, to add an extra dimension to

virtual reality environments and even to assist military doctors

treating soldiers remotely by recreating bile, blood or urine odours

that might help a diagnosis.

 

While a number of companies have produced aroma generators designed to

enhance computer games or TV shows, they have failed commercially

because they have been very limited in the range of smells they can

produce, says Pambuk Somboon of the Tokyo team.

 

So he has done away with pre-prepared smells and developed a system that

records and later reproduces the odours. It's no easy task: " In video,

you just need to record shades of red, green and blue, " he says. " But

humans have 347 olfactory sensors, so we need a lot of source

chemicals. "

 

Somboon's system will use 15 chemical-sensing microchips, or electronic

noses, to pick up a broad range of aromas. These are then used to create

a digital recipe from a set of 96 chemicals that can be chosen according

to the purpose of each individual gadget. When you want to replay a

smell, drops from the relevant vials are mixed, heated and vaporised. In

tests so far, the system has successfully recorded and reproduced the

smell of orange, lemon, apple, banana and melon. " We can even tell a

green apple from a red apple, " Somboon says.

 

Smell researchers are interested in the institute's work. " It would be

interesting to know just what range of smells this new system can detect

and recreate, " says Stephen Brewster, a computer scientist at the

University of Glasgow, UK, who is studying whether smell can be used to

help people quickly identify digital photos without opening them. " This

could be an interesting delivery system for our work. "

[Guest guest]

This is not surprising. People are not always of the power of their

sense of smell. I have an afghan from my grandmother who passed away

15 years ago. When I open the box it is in I get a whiff of that

unique " grandma " scent. It is very comforting, and indescribable. So I

keep it packed away and take a whiff every few years to bring back

fond memories.

Joanne

, " Christine Ziegler "

<chrisziggy wrote:

>

> Smell-o-vision, here we come ..

>

> *Smile*