Odour plume tracking robot using semiconductor gas sensors

This paper reports on the development of a mobile robot equipped with semiconductor gas sensors which has been designed to track odour plumes in the natural environment to locate their sources. One principal application could be the automatic location of explosives and analogies can be made with animal behaviour, particularly dogs, which can track both objects and persons using smell. A novel multi-sensor head is proposed and the design of the mobile robot and its tracking strategies presented. The system is evaluated using isopropyl alcohol as the odour source. Results are presented for a number of different environmental conditions.