Professor Shoji Takeuchi (Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo) and Nobuo Misawa, a researcher at the Kanagawa Academy of Science and Technology, have collaborated with Sumitomo Chemical to develop an odor sensor that uses the olfactory receptors present in the tactile horns of mosquitoes. The drive was successful.It is expected to be used at disaster sites.
The research group had previously developed a method for forming a lipid double membrane (artificial cell membrane) that simulates a cell membrane.This method was developed to reconstruct the isolated and purified mosquito olfactory receptors in the membrane.The olfactory receptor used reacts only with the odorous component of human sweat (octenol) and changes the conductivity of the membrane.By reading this change, it is possible to sense the human odor.
The research group attached this sensor to a small wireless device and mounted it on a mobile robot.When a piece of paper soaked with octenol was floated on the top of the robot, the sensor responded to this odor and succeeded in moving the robot.
At disaster sites, it is often impossible to search using images due to poor visibility, so the company is aiming to apply it as a sensor that searches for unknown people by smell.