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Drones can smell

05.12.2020

University of Washington engineers connected a live moth's antenna to an electronics suite and used it to point the drone at specific smells. They call the created machine Smellicopter.

"Nature is head and shoulders above our artificial odor sensors. By using the olfactory antenna of a real moth on a Smellicopter drone, we can get the best of both worlds: the sensitivity of a biological organism on a robotic platform that can be controlled," says Melanie Anderson, lead author of the study.

The hollow tubular antenna is borrowed from the tobacco hawk moth (manduca sexta). Small electrodes are inserted into each end of the antenna, which pick up the signal from its receptors. The antenna remains biologically and chemically active for up to four hours after removal, but its shelf life can be extended if the component is refrigerated.

To test the resulting cyborg's sense of smell, the team placed the sensor in a wind tunnel, where it had to compete with a standard artificial smell sensor. Tests have shown that the moth's antenna reacts to the smell of flowers or ethanol much faster than any other sensor.

In the following experiments, the researchers mounted the sensor on a small quadcopter equipped with two plastic fins that allow the car to navigate with the wind and four infrared obstacle detection sensors.

The Smellicopter is powered by an algorithm that mimics the flight of a butterfly. The drone starts flying by drifting to the left for the specified distance. If it doesn't detect a strong enough odor, it changes course and moves to the right. Having detected the smell, the drone flies to its source. If at any time the infrared sensors detect an obstacle within 20cm, the Smellicopter will change direction.

The device can be used to detect explosives or the breath of people stuck under rubble at disaster sites.

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