Filed under: Robots

We’ve enjoyed watching KIST’s Hubo do crazy things like wear the face of Albert Einstein and ride a Segway, but we haven’t given as much attention to its brother Mahru. Feeling left out, the biped learned to dance with its upper body whilst walking around — an impressive feat, considering it wasn’t all that long ago that scientists first managed to get these things to take five steps without falling flat on their faces. Mahru also releases scents to express its artificial emotions, so you should be able to smell something fishy when it achieves sentience and begins angrily plotting to destroy its creators. Take a gander at a South Korean TV news report after the break.

Continue reading Mahru the robot dances to mask its emotional insecurities

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Filed under: Laptops

We’re still struggling to believe that these are real, but apparently ASUS really is going to sneak a few scented laptops out to the eight prospective buyers still willing to pull the trigger after thinking it through. After being announced among of a slew of other machines late last month, the FV6 series of Fragrance Notebooks is up for sale right now. $1,274.99 gets you the FV6-C1, which evidently smells just like the color blue. We’re sure the TSA will just love your explanation for this.

[Via LaptopMag, thanks Rasmi]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Here’s an interesting one. A group of US experts have discovered that a common form of skin cancer could one day be detected very early on by simply analyzing scents. More specifically, it was found that basal cell carcinomas give off an odor that is distinctly different than samples from healthy skin, which obviously opens up the possibility for “cheap and painless testing.” In the future, researchers are hoping to create scent profiles for other types of skin cancer, including the infamous malignant melanoma. Believe it or not, a machine may be only one of the devices used to eventually sniff cancerous cells — similar research is ongoing using canines and their remarkably sensitives schnozes.

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Filed under: Displays, Misc. Gadgets

Apparently July is a hot month for ad trials in Japan, as just weeks after a number of 65-inch digital posters were installed in a Tokyo train station, in flies word that yet another consumer-luring installation is being tested. Recruit and NTT Communications are delivering Scent-emitting LCD Display Systems to an underground mall in the heart of Japan, each of which rely on a 42-inch LCD and a scent-sprayer that emits delightful odors to correspond with the on-screen imagery. The goal is to attract onlookers and get them to grab a nearby coupon book, but considering that the experiment shuts down on August 1st, you should probably get your nose down there in a hurry if you’re looking to score some savings.

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Filed under: Cellphones

Virtually every smell-based tech that’s come through the pipe has fizzled out in one way or another, but that checkered past isn’t stopping Germany’s ConVisual from partnering with the Institute of Sensory Analysis and Marketing on scent-delivery chips for cell phones. The partnership has been running for eight years and just received a patent on the tech, and the goal now is to start building the chips into phone within the next two years. The chip is initially supposed to have 100 different smells on it, and ConVisual says bad smells are a possibility as users will be able to reject certain messages. That’s certainly intersting, but we’ve got to say, we’re not all that keen on the idea of people having even more ways to emit odors — we’ll stick with the non-smelly cellys, thanks much.

[Via EE TImes]

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