A machine that records smells in digital format and recreates the smell when needed
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Shubhankar KulkarniFeb 14, 2022
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A device that records any smell in digital format recreates it whenever you want.
Why?
The idea was inspired by another idea - "A simple, filter-based device to capture environmental scents" so the "why" section is pretty much the same. Additionally, this could turn into something much bigger. Currently, we can communicate remotely using the senses of vision and hearing. Smell could be an addition and open up a range of applications.
How?
The technology is available to some extent but in fragments. The idea, here, is to combine it and make it accessible to the general public. Humans have about 1000 types of odor receptor cells, and it is estimated that we can detect 10000 different odors. The idea is to remove the redundant types of odor receptor cells and bring the necessary type to a minimum. Use electronic sensors for each of the odor types form the truncated list (E-nose electronic sensor is already there). The device will look similar to a human nose. It will have a suction function. Air will be taken in, filtered using a cloth-like material initially, and then passed through a narrow tube. The tube will be lined with the electronic sensor pad. The sensors will help determine the types of odors present in that air sample and the concentration of each odor. The results will be presented as a heat map with boxes for each odor and the color of the box presenting the concentration. This will be saved in a digital format.
Now, to recreate the smell, you take the digital copy of the smell to a special perfumer where they read the heat map and recreate the smell using the exact concentrations of the differernt types of odors. They give you the smell in the form of a liquid in a scent bottle. These shops will be like the photo places where they developed your camera films and gave you the photos.
[1]Malnic B, Hirono J, Sato T, Buck LB. Combinatorial receptor codes for odors. Cell. 1999 Mar 5;96(5):713-23. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80581-4. PMID: 10089886.
Shubhankar Kulkarni Feb 14, 2022