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Vision, audition, olfactory, tactile and taste are five important senses that human uses to interact with the real world. As facing more and more complex environments, a sensing system is essential for intelligent robots with various types of sensors. To mimic human-like abilities, sensors similar to human perception capabilities are indispensable. However, most research only concentrated on analyzing literature on single-modal sensors and their robotics application.

This study presents a systematic review of five bioinspired senses, especially considering a brief introduction of multimodal sensing applications and predicting current trends and future directions of this field, which may have continuous enlightenments.

This review shows that bioinspired sensors can enable robots to better understand the environment, and multiple sensor combinations can support the robot’s ability to behave intelligently.

The review starts with a brief survey of the biological sensing mechanisms of the five senses, which are followed by their bioinspired electronic counterparts. Their applications in the robots are then reviewed as another emphasis, covering the main application scopes of localization and navigation, objection identification, dexterous manipulation, compliant interaction and so on. Finally, the trends, difficulties and challenges of this research were discussed to help guide future research on intelligent robot sensors.

This work has been motivated by the authors' long‐term research on odor‐sensing systems using acoustic wave‐based sensors and pattern recognition techniques. The sensors should be fabricated in such a way that they mimic performance of the olfactory receptors. In these terms, the purpose of this paper is to test a simple method for fabrication of quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensors by using nanocomposites and amphiphilic gas chromatography (GC) materials. The obtained sensors were intended to be highly sensitive to odorants at low concentrations and in high‐humidity conditions, as well as contributing to discrimination among odorant samples.

The proposed fabrication process consists of four stages: formation of all‐lipopolymeric layer on surface of the QCM sensor; preparation of lipopolymeric nanocomposites by means of chemisorption of lipopolymers onto nano‐Au; precipitation of the nanocomposites onto the lipopolymer‐coated QCM surface; and physisorption of amphiphilic GC materials onto the lipopolymer‐nanocomposite matrix. The fabricated sensors have been evaluated in the experiments of exposure to vapors of odorants at various concentrations and humidity levels.

The authors found that sensitivity of the sensors fabricated using the proposed method was much superior to that recorded for the sensors with all‐lipopolymeric and all‐amphiphilic films. The novel sensors' performance showed robustness against humidity and capability to discriminate among odorant samples at relatively low‐concentration levels.

The sensors fabricated using the proposed method can be useful in recognition of the odorant samples at ppb‐level under high humidity. Their performance has not been deteriorated even under high humidity.

The paper presents application of a relatively simple chemi‐/physisorption processes to form an odor‐interactive coating, with high sensitivity and robustness against humidity. To the best of the authors' knowledge, the method proposed here has not been presented by other groups.

The purpose of this paper is to present a mobile robot with an olfactory capability for hazardous site survey. Possible applications include detection of gas leaks and dangerous substances along predefined paths, inspection of pipes in factories, and mine sweeping.

The mobile sentry is equipped with a transducer array of tin oxide chemical sensors, compliant with the standard interface IEEE 1451, which provides odour‐sensing capability, and uses differential drive and spring‐suspended odometric trackballs to move and localize in the environment. The monitoring strategy comprises two stages. First, a path learning operation is performed where the vehicle is remotely controlled through some potential critical locations of the environment, such as valves, pressure vessels, and pipelines. Then, the robot automatically tracks the prerecorded trajectory, while serving as an electronic watch by providing a real‐time olfactory map of the environment. Laboratory experiments are described to validate the approach and assess the performance of the proposed system.

The approach was shown to be effective in experimental trials where the robot was able to detect multiple odour sources and differentiate between sources very close to one another.

One limitation of the methodology is that it has been specifically designed for odour detection along a well‐defined path in a highly structured environment, such as that expected in the industrial field. The problem of detection of leakages outside the search path is not addressed here.

This mobile robot can be of great value to detect hazardous fluid leakages in chemical warehouses and industrial sites, thus increasing the safety level for human operators.

The paper describes a mobile robotic system, which employs an odour‐sensing capability to perform automated monitoring of hazardous industrial sites. A dynamic model of the mobile nose is also discussed and it is shown that it well describes the behaviour of the system.

The adaptation of conventional robots to construction sites is fraught with problems. Most significant of these are in relation to positioning, means of collision avoidance, and appropriate navigation strategy. This paper reviews the different levels of navigational autonomy that are possible and describes the system requirements for each. A taxonomy based on the concept of a Mobility Automation Level (MAL) is proposed. Each level is described and the requirements from a robot design perspective are discussed. Finally, a case study, based on an excavator with autonomously optimised movement, known as LUCIE, is used to illustrate some of the design criteria previously described and discussed.

This paper aims to propose an odor sensing system based on wide spectrum for e-nose, based on comprehensive analysis on the merits and drawbacks of current e-nose.

The wide spectral light is used as the sensing medium in the e-nose system based on continuous wide spectrum (CWS) odor sensing, and the sensing response of each sensing element is the change of light intensity distribution.

Experimental results not only verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed system but also show the effectiveness of least square support vector machine (LSSVM) in eliminating system errors.

Theoretical model of the system was constructed, and experimental tests were carried out by using NO₂ and SO₂. System errors in the test data were eliminated using the LSSVM, and the preprocessed data were classified by euclidean distance to centroids (EDC), k-nearest neighbor (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), LSSVM, respectively.

The system not only has the advantages of current e-nose but also realizes expansion of sensing array by means of light source and the spectrometer with their wide spectrum, high resolution characteristics which improve the detection accuracy and realize real-time detection.

The overall performance of an electronic nose system will depend on the individual performance of its constituent elements. Although often overlooked, it is clear that careful design/selection of the front‐end signal conditioning circuit is of critical importance if optimal performance of the odour sensing system is to be achieved. In this paper circuits are reviewed, which have been employed as front‐end signal conditioners for resistance‐based sensors in electronic nose systems, with many of the conclusions drawn being equally applicable to other resistor sensors. The relevant equations governing the behaviour of each circuit methodology are derived and advantages and disadvantages are discussed. The performance of the circuit is then quantitatively assessed in a specific test case, in which the maximum sensitivity of the circuit is calculated in relation to the task of interfacing to a theoretical thin‐film conducting‐polymer sensor.

This paper reviews the range of sensors used in electronic nose (e‐nose) systems to date. It outlines the operating principles and fabrication methods of each sensor type as well as the applications in which the different sensors have been utilised. It also outlines the advantages and disadvantages of each sensor for application in a cost‐effective low‐power handheld e‐nose system.

Spatial olfactory design in the library appears to be a practical approach to enhance the coordination between architectural spaces and user behaviors, shape immersive activity experiences and shape immersive activity experiences. Therefore, this study aims to explore the association between the olfactory elements of library space and users’ olfactory perception, providing a foundation for the practical design of olfactory space in libraries.

Using the olfactory perception semantic differential experiment method, this study collected feedback on the emotional experience of olfactory stimuli from 56 participants in an academic library. From the perspective of environmental psychology, the dimensions of pleasure, control and arousal of users’ olfactory perception in the academic library environment were semantically and emotionally described. In addition, the impact of fatigue state on users’ olfactory perception was analyzed through statistical methods to explore the impact path of individual physical differences on olfactory perception.

It was found that users’ olfactory perception in the academic library environment is likely semantically described from the dimensions of pleasure, arousal and control. These dimensions mutually influence users’ satisfaction with olfactory elements. Moreover, there is a close correlation between pleasure and satisfaction. In addition, fatigue states may impact users’ olfactory perception. Furthermore, users in a high-fatigue state may be more sensitive to the arousal of olfactory perception.

This article is an empirical exploration of users’ perception of the environmental odors in libraries. The experimental results of this paper may have practical implications for the construction of olfactory space in academic libraries.

Over the past ten years there has been significant interest in the application of sensor arrays to discriminate between odorous mixtures. Such a system could have numerous uses in fields as diverse as agriculture, foodstuffs, brewing, perfumery and air quality measurement. At present, progress is limited by the sensor technology. To date, most of the research undertaken has been centred around the commercially available Taguchi Gas Sensor (TGS) range. These devices consist of a thick‐film tin oxide layer, the conductance of which is modulated upon exposure to a range of flammable materials. This can only occur when the sensor is operated at temperatures in the region 300–700°C. These devices are also bulky and have high power consumptions (0.9W at 300°C). This makes them unsuitable for remote field applications requiring battery supplies, particularly when there are a large number of sensors in the array.

The production of long-lasting fragrant semi-worsted fabrics using dendritic compounds as one of the nano size materials is concerned. Also quantitative assessments of the odour intensity of the fragrant fabrics using an electronic-nose (E-nose) are made. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The semi-worsted fabrics were perfumed using the second generation of polypropylene-imine (PPI) dendrimer as a host molecules. The ginseng and rosewater fragrances as guest molecules were applied into the PPI dendrimer to produce long-lasting fragrant fabrics. The odour intensity as well as long-lasting properties of the fragrant fabrics perfumed recently and the other sample perfumed one year ago were evaluated via E-nose fabricated in our laboratory. Physical properties of the fragrant fabrics were compared to the non-fragrant ones.

The interaction between ginseng and rosewater fragrances with the second generation of PPI dendrimer into the semi-worsted fabrics made a long-lasting fragrant fabrics without considerable impacts on bending length, air permeability and wrinkle recovery angles based on statistical analysis. However, the effects of making fragrant fabrics on the increasing weight are significant. In addition, the E-nose was successfully used to monitor the release of ginseng and rosewater fragrance from the fabrics by the response patterns of a temperature-modulated chemo-resistive gas sensor. E-nose analysis showed that the aroma intensity released from the old fragrant semi-worsted fabrics has no obvious diversity from that of new fragrant fabrics.

The findings suggest that the semi-worsted fabrics perfumed with dendritic materials revealed excellent sustained release property.