Meet Shuntaro-kun: the robotic foot-odor sniffing dog that cuddles up to nice smelling feet and passes out in the presence of BO. (via Asahi)
When natural disasters strike an area close to home, it’s likely common for engineers and technologists to begin thinking of ways that technology can help prevent future events from happening, and possibly even uplift the people of now disaster-ridden areas. That is precisely what occurred after the recent Great East Japan Earthquake that struck the Tohoku region in March of 2011. Tsutsumi, the robot-maker CrazyLabo President, visited the area on a consistent enough basis to be inspired to create tech that would return joy to the Tohoku area. Though these inventions are far from preventing any similar foreseeable catastrophes - the BO detecting bots developed by CrazyLabo, in partnership with the Kitakyushu National College of Technology, are sure to spark a chuckle or two out of the Tohoku residents.
During a meeting with the university’s mechanical engineering professor, Takashi Takimoto, Tsutsumi shared that his family enjoyed pointing out his breath and smelly feet - inspiration struck! From there, a team of 10 male students were assembled to continuously analyze dirty sock, bad breath odors, food smell characteristics (garlic, fermented soybeans), and other pleasing and displeasing smells. Computer programs were then created to store the odor bank of information. With the use of commercially available odor sensors, two bots were developed - a breath sensing female bot, and a foot smelling canine.
The robotic female breath critic, named Kaori-chan, has brown hair, blue eyes, and sits atop a box which hold the odor analyzing components. To evaluate, Kaori-chan responds with vocal remarks such as - “it smells like citrus!” (good odor) or “Emergency! There’s an emergency taking place! That’s beyond the limit of patience!” (not-so good breath).
The dog robot, named Shuntaro-kun, analyzes foot odors to the tune of Beethoven’s ‘Symphony No. 5’. Instead of responding by speech - Shuntaro-kun will either cuddle up with feet that please his senses, or barks, growl, and pass out when socks need a changing to the tune of Chopin’s funeral march no less.
“I want to continue to produce things that make people laugh and create a good atmosphere,” said Tsutsumi after the project’s completion. He is now planning on visiting the Tohoku region with the bots and leasing them out to the public to enjoy. The tech inspiration hasn’t stopped there, either - CrazyLabo is now working on a Pinocchio bot that can detect lies by monitoring brain waves. And yes, his nose grows when a lie is detected.
Tsutsumi’s tale goes to show us that if technologically innovative inspiration strikes, go with it - you never know where it can lead to and what kind of beneficial impact it can have in the world.
Watch a video of both bots in action after this link to Asahi's website.
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