Lino Marques

Robot sensing in rescue tasks is a challenge due to harsh conditions. This section introduces olfactory sensing for robots (the ability to sense chemicals). Some advantages of such sensors are discussed: they are local (yet able to detect distance targets), they can be very specific, and chemical communications has lower energetic costs than other communication processes. Animal olfaction is reviewed, and the mechanisms of odor transport are described. State of the art in electrochemical sensors is presented, and some olfactory devices on robots are demonstrated in navigation tasks.

Data pub.: 01/11/08