How expensive are smell detectors, anyway? I don't know of many. How would the blocks work? How would it define a smell? There are surely many different smells, you can't just put them all in a drop-down menu.

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blubby4 wrote:

How expensive are smell detectors, anyway?

Depends on the manufacturer. They're very pricey with the current technology we have, though.

But it seems like a DIY version exists that works with Arduino so it's not completely inaccessible.

I don't know of many. How would the blocks work? How would it define a smell? There are surely many different smells, you can't just put them all in a drop-down menu.

Most e-noses don't really define a smell, it's more like they pick up on odors in general. (Or if they do define a smell, it's because the nose is designed to pick up on specific odors). It would probably be like any variable block designed to work with a sensor, the value changes on the amount of odor present.

cheddargirl wrote:

I don't know of many. How would the blocks work? How would it define a smell? There are surely many different smells, you can't just put them all in a drop-down menu.

Most e-noses don't really define a smell, it's more like they pick up on odors in general. (Or if they do define a smell, it's because the nose is designed to pick up on specific odors). It would probably be like any variable block designed to work with a sensor, the value changes on the amount of odor present.

Hmm, interesting. So essentially they pick up on what's in the air that isn't the 98% of it that is nitrogen and oxygen, and measure that, rather than trying to pick up on specific molecules.