Machine Olfaction for Mobile Robots

Olfaction often plays an important role in orienting behaviors of animals. Famous examples are ants following pheromone trails marked on the ground and moths tracking aerial pheromone plumes. Inspired by these olfactory-guided behaviors, robotic systems that perform chemical trail following and plume tracking have been developed. In this chapter, the achievements so far are reviewed to demonstrate the current status of this new application of chemical sensor technologies.