Designing an Automatic Air Freshener Robot :: Robotics

The Automatic Air Freshener Our project idea is to create an automatic air freshener robot. This robot will follow a path created by colored tape along a board to a holder with a piece of pH paper and liquids with varying pH levels. After the paper is dipped into the liquid and the color changes, the robot will detect what color it is and respond accordingly. If the odor is â€Å"foul†, it will choose to spray the air freshener. The only thing it will be programmed to do is to detect the â€Å"foul odor† and to spray the air freshener, because that is its only purpose. Smell. One of our five senses. It's used everyday to help us gain a better understanding of our surroundings. But how does it work? Olfaction, or smell, is the detection of chemicals in our surroundings. For humans, odors are processed in our olfactory epithelium. We have thousands of genes that act as odor receptors. Each of these genes act as a lock, with the odor molecules acting as the key. When the correct odor molecule fits into the olfactory receptor neuron, a signal is sent to our brain, allowing it to determine whether the odor is pleasant or repulsive. In order to remove the foul odor, our robot will employ air fresheners. Many air fresheners use extracts from plants, fruits, and flowers. While the history of perfume dates back millenia to the Ancient Egyptians, many modern-day armoatics are produced synthetically in a lab. There are many different kinds on the market. One type of advanced air freshener works like a charcoal or pollen filter. They filter out of the air all the foul smelling particles. Other types of air freshener can absorb the odor molecules. Also, some disinfect by killing bacteria and germs that sometimes cause the bad odors. However, most air fresheners use masking, introducing a stronger fragrance that humans find favorable, masking out the unpleasant smells. For our project, we will be using the type of air freshener that masks the smell. For our project, we were going to put together a robot that would be able to detect such bad odors and to spray air freshener in the general area, thus masking the unwanted smell. Currently, there is no product on the market that does such a job. However, there is one product that can detect bad smells and report the data to the user. It is a halitosis detector made by the Japanese company Tanita called Fresh Kiss (Tsunoda). It analyzes gas in ones mouth using a gas