Robots Sniff Out Allergens

Nice to see robots in Japan (where else) lend more than a helping hand, this time round being able to change its color depending on the amount of allergy-causing pollen that’s hanging around in the air. There are currently half a thousand globe-shaped robots which have been deployed, and this fourth-generation pollen-detecting bots are much smaller compared to its predecessors, detecting various levels of pollen while placing them on a scale of 1 to 5 using a variety of colors. These robots are somewhat akin to huge, fluorescent lights and don’t look anything like a traditional concept of robots though.