Electroantennography-based Bio-hybrid Odor-detecting Drone using Silkmoth Antennae for Odor Source Localization

Abstract

Small drones with chemical or biosensor devices that can detect airborne odorant molecules have attracted considerable attention owing to their applicability in environmental and security monitoring and search-and-rescue operations. Small drones with commercial metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOX) gas sensors have been developed for odor source localization; however, their real-time-odor-detection performance has proven inadequate. However, biosensing technologies based on insect olfactory systems exhibit relatively high sensitivity, selectivity, and realtime response with respect to odorant molecules compared to commercial MOX gas sensors. In such devices, excised insect antennae function as portable odorant biosensor elements and have been found to deliver excellent sensing performance. This study presents experimental protocols for odorant-molecule detection in the air using a small autonomous bio-hybrid drone based on a mountable electroantennography (EAG) device incorporating silkmoth antennae.We developed a mountable EAG device including sensing/processing parts with a Wi-Fi module. The device was equipped with a simple sensor enclosure to enhance the sensor directivity. Thus, odor source localization was conducted using the spiralsurge algorithm, which does not assume an upwind direction. The experimental biohybrid odor-detecting drone identified real-time odorant-concentration differences in a pseudo-open environment (outside a wind tunnel) and localized the source. The developed drone and associated system can serve as an efficient odorant moleculedetection tool and a suitable flight platform for developing odor source localization algorithms owing to its high programmability.

Moth-inspired odor source localization using robotic platforms: A comprehensive review

“…It was supported with a preamplifier, filter, and amplifier for signal conditioning in the same circuit board. A sensor enclosure on the drone was also developed to improve the sensor directivity of the EAG device (Terutsuki et al, 2021a(Terutsuki et al, , 2021b.…”

Biohybrid robots: recent progress, challenges, and perspectives

“…Whereas mammalian tissues are a natural selection for biomedical research models, their culture conditions and maintenance requirements may pose a barrier to translation in broader mobile robotic applications [24]. In comparison, invertebrate materials, such as insect antennae [127][128][129][130] or sea slug muscle [131,132], have been shown to be robust to natural environments and capable of functioning in longterm culture, in some cases even without repeated maintenance [21,[133][134][135]. For example, tissues isolated from sea slugs have been shown to operate in artificial seawater environments at temperatures ranging from 14 • C to 20 • C [131].…”

“…Such biohybrid systems require sensors, whether this entails biological systems that incorporate artificial sensors or robotic systems that incorporate biological sensors, i.e. insect antennae [127][128][129][130]. Alternatively, biological closedloop control systems, e.g.…”

Adaptive Space-Aware Infotaxis II as a Strategy for Odor Source Localization

“…Reactive strategies are the earliest situations in the field of OSL performed by mobile robots, and draw inspiration from the behavior of organisms searching for food, Entropy 2024, 26, 302 2 of 24 mates, or other predators, e.g., moths [8] and Escherichia coli [9], for the purpose of autonomously tracking chemical plumes. Reactive strategies are generally gradient-based, e.g., zigzag-silkworm [10] and spiral-surge [11], in which the robot moves repeatedly along the chemical concentration gradient, constantly steering so that the robot moves to the side with a higher chemical concentration. Reactive strategies are suitable for diffusiondominated airflow environments and are usually used for micro-vehicles or ground robots to search for odor sources in indoor environments without a strong airflow [12].…”