Electronic NosesName of the Leading Company in the Field: 【B1】______Manager of

Man: Good morning, everyone. I’m Louise Pile from AromaScan. Today I’ll talk about the latest product in our field—electronic noses. The human senses are all being automated. We have electronic eyes and ears, and robots having a rudimentary sense of touch. Now the electronic nose is here, with my company as the world leader in this technology—launching the first electronic nose in 1999. Indeed, a rival nose has emerged within the past year from Newtech, and a third is due out next year by Sensors.
As you may guess, the noses share the same basic design as the human version, that is, they have an array of sensors to detect molecules in the air which are linked to an electronic brain to make sense of the signals. The electronic noses cannot yet match the sensitivity of human smell any more than computerised voice recognition can compete with our ears. But for industrial purposes they have other advantages which are drawing potential users from the food and fragrance industries.
A mass market beckons, right? But consumer applications lie several years in the future, because the noses cost about ￡ 25, 000 each. Now we are developing applications in a quite different area with our research partner. Trails at Red Star Hospital in Manchester have shown that one type of the instrument can detect wound infections at a very early stage. We are discussing possible licensing deals and joint ventures with international electronics and instrumentation companies, which would bring in more development funds.