How do you give a robot a piercing sense of feel ? By using genetically modified toad cell , accord to Shoji Takeuchi , a bioengineer at the University of Tokyo in Japan .
Today ’s electronic noses are not up to the line , he say . Although eastward - noses have been around for a while – and are used to sniff out rotten food in product lines – they miss accuracy .
That ’s because e - noses habituate quartz rods designed to vibrate at a different absolute frequency when they bind to a objective substance . But this is not a foolproof organisation , as subtly unlike substance with interchangeable molecular weights may bind to the pole , farm a false confirming .
Instead , Takeuchi believes there is nothing quite as skilful as biology for distinguishing between different biomolecules , such as disease mark in our breath . So he and his team have develop a experience smell sensor .
First , immature eggs , or oocytes , from the African claw frog Xenopus laevis were genetically qualify to verbalize the proteins known to dissemble as smell receptors . He pick out X. laevis cells as they are widely study and their protein verbal expression mechanism is well sympathise .
The team then range the modified cell between electrodes and measured the telltale current beget when different molecules bound to the sense organ . They found this method acting can distinguish between many most superposable biomolecules .
As a validation of concept , Takeuchi has build a robot that shake its head when moth pheromone are sense by the nose .
He now need to extend the frog - based engineering science . “ The X. laevis oocyte has high versatility for the maturation of chemical sensors for various odorants , ” he says . “ We believe that a partake ability to smell might open a new human relationship between man and robot . ”
Journal citation : legal proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences , DOI : 10.1073 / pnas.1004334107 .
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