“Nose Knows” Air Quality Detection Capstone Made in the MIX

A group of psychology students have been using the MIX to create, wire and test their senior capstone project for the Human Robot Interaction Student Design Challenge developing a prototype entitled the “Nose Knows” which is an air quality detection and sensing robot that has a recognizable alert/notification when detection occurs.

The group Joseph Tiger (depicted), Jacob Henley (depicted), Paige Williamson, and Neha Cannan is working on a very soft responsive flexible nose with a range of novel interaction styles. With normal sensor-responsive systems, alerts tend to be in the form of sound, light or even haptic user-feedback. For the Nose Knows, alerts would come in the form of a sneeze, a scrunched or wrinkled nose, like when someone smells something bad, and more. These responses, the group of Psychology student majors claim, are more intuitive forms of communication and feedback.

Joseph Tiger (depicted), Jacob Henley (depicted)

While a beep is abstract. The Nose Knows is more of a natural bodily response to a bad smell or air that posesses allergens. The biology is in there through the reactions and not only adds novelty and humor, but also possibly a more immediate reading than an abstract cue.