Automating Sense of Smell

 A sensory space we also experimented with

E-Nose Sniffs Out the Good Whiskey  

IEEE Spectrum, Michelle Hampson, February 18, 2022

New research describes an electronic nose (e-nose) that can analyze whiskies and recognize a whiskey’s brand with over 95% accuracy after a single whiff. Researchers at Australia's University of Technology Sydney based NOS.E on an e-nose originally developed to detect illegal animal parts sold on the black market. NOS.E has a vial to insert the whiskey sample, and a gas sensor chamber to contain the whiskey's scent; the chamber reads the various odors and transmits the data to a computer, then key scent features are extracted and analyzed by machine learning algorithms to identify brand, region, and style of whiskey. The researchers compared NOS.E's analysis of a half-dozen whiskies to that of a state-of-the-art gas chromatography device, and found both methods yielded similar accuracy.

Whiff, A Scent Revolution?

 I had cause to review the book "Whiff! The Revolution of Scent Communication in the Information Age", by C Russell Brumfield.   A good overview the concept of the idea, especially in retail.  Now somewhat dated, but nicely covers many of the concepts.  We tested in innovation centers as far back as 2016.  Scent is a powerful idea, but remains imprecise.   If anything comes of this mini-investigation will report on it here if I can.  If you can point me to work in the area, please do.  Be glad to talk it. 

Connected Air Fresheners in the Internet of Things

Here's A Whiff of the Future for the Internet of Things
Marketing Lessons from P&G's Febreze Internet-Connected Air Freshener By David Berkowitz

" .... When the Febreze Home internet-connected plug-in air freshener arrived in the mail this month, I opened the box and beheld yet another questionable impulse buy. I ordered it during this year's Consumer Electronics Show in January just after Procter and Gamble announced it. If this was a typical Kickstarter project, it would have arrived in time for the 2017 holiday season after several competitive products already hit the market. P&G actually stuck to its promised ship date, which is the most remarkable aspect of this product's debut. .... This harbinger of the connected home offers a whiff of what's ahead for marketers, manufacturers and consumers.  .... " 

An Electronic Nose to Detect State of Health

Looking at the Electronic nose again.  We were primarily interested in detecting engaging aromas in coffee.  Now In Knowledge @ Wharton: " ... Samuel M. Khamis, the CEO of a new tech start-up, is building a chip that can be embedded in your smartphone and will be able to smell your breath. With just a whiff, the “electric nose” sensor, which Khamis is developing at Adamant Technologies, can provide information about a person’s current metabolic state and detail how many calories he or she is burning in real time. ... " .  Positioned as the 'Future of Mobile Health'. See also Adamant Technologies site.   See also related Time Mag article (registration required).

Scent Marketing

Roger Dooley on recent scent dimension work in marketing. A frequent topic here. Most recently we talked to Whiff! about establishing scent laboratories. Scent has always been a powerful dimension, but it has been problematical to deliver effectively in retail. That is why there are few olfactory strategies for marketing. Brand Futurists, like Martin Lindstrom, do understand its power, emphasizes it in his book Brandsense. A number of tests were run in our innovation centers and allied retail spaces.

Also useful: The Whiffbook, devoted to the topic, the Scent Marketing Institute, a good means to follow this area, the Whiff site and the Scent Marketing Blog.

Caromatherapy

The Whiff Guys, sensory specialists, report on caromatheraphy experimentation by Mercedes-Benz. Read it as car-aromatherapy. Admittedly only in the luxury limo division, but more about personalizing contexts in which we live. See their site for more advances in sensory marketing. Also see their book: Whiff!: The Revolution of Scent Communications in the Information Age.

A Smell Sensory Future

Roger Dooley gives a good overview of the book: Whiff!: The Revolution of Scent Communications in the Information Age by Russell Brumfield and James Goldney. I have mentioned this lively book on scent sensory topics here a number of times. I have also met Russell and James and they know their applied sensory stuff.

Scent Marketing Skyrockets

Short PR article on the explosion of activity in scent-sensory marketing. Quotes Russell Brumfield in his recent book: Whiff! The Revolution of Scent Communication in the Information Age. Book previously mentioned.

Smell: The Secret Seducer

In an ongoing look at sensory topics, I read Smell: The Secret Seducer
by P. A. Vroon et al. It does a semi-deep dive of scent subjects and their implications. Smell is a particularly interesting because it appears to be one of the most primitive, yet for precisely this reason is can produce subconscious effects we are unaware of. The book is translated, which sometimes shows. Written in 1994 and is also dated in that respect. Still worth a read.

For a more updated, and less technical view, see Whiff!: The Revolution of Scent Communication in the Information Age, by Russell Brumfield and James Goldney.
I posted about it previously here.

Smell Science by Machine Olfaction

You can see from recent posts that I have been researching smell science. Not too long ago I mentioned MIT's digital nose. I have been working my way through Russell Brumfield's densely provocative Whiff! The Revolution of Scent Communications in the Information Age. No aspect of smell research and delivery uncovered. On the topic of artificial noses, also called machine olfaction, he mentions the E-Nose, which came out of CIT, and was licensed to Cyrano Sciences and became the portable Cyranose 320. (You cannot make that up) Put to use in the food industry to detect spoilage and other toxic emissions. Mentioned in an IDEO case study. Eventually was bought by Smiths Detection to be determine if it could also be used for physical diagnostics. I see it is no longer featured in their technology list. So that may mean there has been a pause in development of machine olfaction. The MIT nose may be an indicator of new interest in the area.

Ask the Whiff Guys

A bit back I wrote about the book: Whiff! The Revolution of Scent Communication the Information Age. Still have not read it but it is getting closer. I just discovered the book and the guys behind it have a site called Ask the Whiff! Guys. You can download a book chapter. The site contains lots of smell-sensory videos, news notes and applications. One of the most interesting, a scent-based discovery that could help stop MRSA infections in hospitals. Scent is more than just retail. More posts here on scent.

Scent Communications

A positive review of Whiff! The Revolution of Scent Communication in the Information Age, by C. Russell Brumfield. Have been involved with a number of scent driven projects and it is an under used and hard to control sense. "... we are on the verge of an age in which almost every product and environment is imbued with an appropriate scent. That scent might be designed to evoke a particular emotion, or send a branding message. He even thinks scent could provide directional cues to help shoppers navigate complex mall environments ... ". It's on my reading list. See my previous review of the related book:What the Nose Knows. Update: In the comments the author provides some more details about their direction in smell science.