Study of Odor Compass

Abstract

A new method for localizing an odor source by mimicking the behavior of silkworm moths is proposed. A male silkworm moth is able to track airborne sexual pheromone to its female counterpart. During the search, a moth draws air from its front to its two antennae by wing vibrations, and turns toward the antenna more strongly stimulated by the pheromone. An artificial system with this mechanism has been realized using a small fan and plural gas sensors instead of the moth's wings and antennae, respectively. The system is called an 'odor compass' since it continuously points to an odor source by rotating the probe to the sensor with the largest response. The capability of its directional probing is successfully demonstrated by the results of estimation of the odor-source direction in a clean room. Furthermore, the improvement of the system to realize the three-dimensional localization, which is often required in a practical environment, is reported, and its feasibility is demonstrated.