Nabaztag/tag can smell!

Wondering what all the Nabaztag/tag hubbub is about? Then check the video of this v2 WiFi bunny who not only emerges from DEMOfall with a mic stuffed in his fake plastic belly, he snagged a sense of smell too. That's right, in the demo he's able to detect a big dirty carrot held in front of his felt-tipped "T" of a nose and respond accordingly. Somehow this all seems perfectly fine and even a hare arousing when explained by mister French Elvis. Oh Nabaztag, we know this world is killing you.

[brian welch @ Oct 18th 2006 9:32AM]

heh, 'hare'. |rimshot| *q:=

[Woolly Mittens @ Oct 18th 2006 10:16AM]

This is the 2000's version of pet rocks. =/

[Silverfrog @ Oct 18th 2006 10:54AM]

Um, not quite a "pet rock" caliber idea there folks. If this technology was used in the security sector, we'd have much tighter security. If jewelry stores, for instance, used this method to detect human scent, it could activate its alarm well before the burglar even knew he was detected. You could put devices in an area outside, where you don't want people to go (think: prison perimeters) and it would automatically set off alarms. Now, imagine if you had a camera that detected smell. Instead of the camera rotating in a predictable pattern, it would be able to home in on what it smells, catching the criminal even faster.

[David @ Oct 18th 2006 11:36AM]

And how exactly is smelling a person better at detecting them than say, an IR motion sensor?

[Manuel @ Oct 18th 2006 11:03AM]

could be useful in office as a fart-detector !

[KK @ Oct 18th 2006 11:25AM]

Two snowmen are standing in a field. One says to the other, "funny, I smell carrots too".

[Foof @ Oct 18th 2006 1:01PM]

A motion sensor requires line of sight, so I imagine there would be a big benefit to any kind of technology that doesn't rely on something being in front of the sensor.

The smell technology could also be beneficial for something like bomb-sniffing, which IR is useless for.

[Matthew Bowes @ Oct 18th 2006 12:47PM]

WTF is with the name. I can't get it out my head now.

[zkam @ Oct 19th 2006 8:11AM]

> WTF is with the name. I can't get it out my head now.

Nabaztag is Armenian for "rabbit" :-)

[DarkFader @ Oct 18th 2006 1:35PM]

I'v heard v3 will run on bio-energy (e.g. carrots)

[masterjotun @ Oct 19th 2006 1:34AM]

Is anybody else upset that our future overlords will have the sense of smell? the ONE loophole for the survivors of the first wave of attacks...damn! haha

[David @ Aug 30th 2007 3:58AM]

The Nabaztag can't really smell, it uses RFID tags to detect items.