Frontier intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI) may well become more human-like, assimilating multiple senses simultaneously. For instance, ‘decisions’ made by robots are based on the environment they work in, without their different sensors communicating with each other. Not so in human beings, who while alerted by one sense, have their other sense/senses activated too — for example, when an individual comes across a tree on fire, the sense of smell is also activated wherein the nose detects the odour of burning wood. Penn State researchers are on the job.
They have harnessed the biological concept for application in AI to develop the first artificial, multisensory integrated neuron. In pursuit of achieving a multi-sensory robot, the research team integrated a sensor detecting touch (a tactile sensor) and a visual sensor so the output of one sensor modified the other, with the help of visual memory, facilitating a robot to successfully move through a dark room with just a short-lived flash of light. The researchers explain that this was possible as visual memory caused by the short-lived flash of light in the dark registered the nature of surroundings — although the light was flashed just for a fraction of a second — and influenced the tactile response to help the robot navigate through the darkness safely.
This was possible as the visual and tactile sensors communicated with each other. The researchers are aiming at developing a robot with sensors correlating to as many human senses as possible in it. Following achieving an interplay of sense of touch and sight, the researchers want to further develop inter-communicating sensors that help the robots to see, hear, touch and smell simultaneously to derive a better robotic judgement.
Smell solution
SCARED OF GARLIC ON YOUR BREATH? TRY YOGURT!
Garlic is a fairly common part of Indian recipes, but many worry about the ‘garlic breath’ after a meal containing that ingredient. Ohio State University researchers have come up with a solution based on a scientific finding. Yogurt is that answer. The researchers, in lab tests, have found that whole milk plain yogurt is able to prevent almost all of the volatile compounds responsible for garlic’s pungent scent from escaping into the air. They believe that if lab tests have proved successful, the same could replicate in the breaths of a person who has just consumed a garlic-laced meal.
They tested yogurt’s garlic-deodorizing capacity by studying the former’s individual components like water, fat and protein to see how each acted on the garlic stink. They found that fat and protein were both effective in trapping the garlic odour, which also brought them to the conclusion that not just yogurt but all high-protein-high-fat foods may be capable of having the same effect on the garlic odour. During the lab tests, the researchers put equal amounts of raw garlic in glass bottles before confirming that the offending sulphur-based volatiles would be detected by the human noses.
Using mass spectrometry measuring levels of volatile molecules in gaseous form present before and after each treatment with yogurt, they discovered that yogurt alone could eliminate 99% of odor-producing raw garlic volatiles. When introduced separately, the fat, water and protein components of yogurt also had a deodorizing effect on raw garlic, but fat and protein performed better than water. The researchers also tested the effects of yogurt on fried garlic. They discovered that while frying garlic itself eliminated most odour-releasing volatiles, yogurt and its ingredients completely neutralized whatever odour was left.