Purdue researchers craft handheld chemical analyzer, likens Tricorder

Hot on the heels of being crowned the most prolific pirating university in the land, Purdue is donning its halo once again by kicking out yet another invention that will surely make the world a better place to reside. The Mini 10 prototype is a handheld chemical analyzer that its creators have likened to Star Trek's "Tricorder," and while the internal abilities should genuinely impress, we're handing out a round of golf claps for the uber-glitzy motif it's got going on. The sophisticated sensing system measures just 13.5- x 8.5- x 7.5-inches and weighs in at 22-pounds, which is around 30 times less than conventional mass spectrometers, and aside from its ability to be completely portable via battery power, it still sports the same sniffing capabilities as its mammoth-sized siblings. In order to cram such potent chemical sensing abilities into such a small package, a miniature mass spectrometer is "combined with a technique called desorption electrospray ionization (DESI)," and can display the chemical composition of materials in a "matter of minutes without harming the samples." Interestingly enough, the prototype has already analyzed garb, food, and actual cocaine, and while we're not quite sure when you'll be able to snatch one of these up to "check in" on your mischievous teen, a couple of Indiana-based firms are apparently already looking into commercialization options.

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[JJ @ Feb 28th 2007 3:52PM]

While this is very cool, my wife was using a mass spectrometer not much bigger than this in grad school 6 years ago. And a friend in the Air Force that specializes in chemical attack response was just showing me a gizmo he works with that is smaller than this unit appears to be that can tell you the general chemical composition of solids, liquids and gases.

[Brian Laks @ Feb 28th 2007 4:24PM]

I've been looking for an extremely portable spectrometer! I bet the size comes down more over time...

[Randavance @ Feb 28th 2007 4:52PM]

Vulcan technology strikes again.

[Chris @ Feb 28th 2007 5:09PM]

Looks like they gutted a toaster...

[Kev50027 @ Feb 28th 2007 5:33PM]

Hey!! All that is is a big shiny box with a Sony Vaio U70 (or U50, as that has the Celeron Processor in it) stuck to the side! I have that ultraportable! It has a 5 inch screen..800x600 resolution, 512 MB RAM, 20 GB hard drive, and comes with XP Pro. I love the thing.. funny how they used one on this chemical analyzer though.

[crackpipe @ Feb 28th 2007 6:00PM]

I'll buy one when they get em down to the size of an actual tricorder... not that there ever was an "actual" tricorder. But down to the size of that plastic prop that represented a tricorder. What am I talking about? I have no use for a chemical analyzer. Nevermind.

[Sam @ Feb 28th 2007 6:19PM]

I go to Purdue University. We are pretty cool like that... Well, okay I guess we're not always that cool but that little box is pretty sweet.

[jimgirardi @ Feb 28th 2007 8:32PM]

AH, but tricorders do way more than this thing does... Tricorders are also cute noise generators.

[Ryan Spray @ Mar 1st 2007 10:00AM]

I work in the Purdue Chemistry Dept. one building over from the Cooks group. Sometimes I wish my research got featured on Engadget...lol.

[R911 @ Mar 1st 2007 6:44PM]

If this can hint at harmful contents in specimens then this is great.