A new device can detect scents and transmit them between people across distances, with the potential for long-range transmission. It marks another stage in the development of human-machine interfaces: enabling the sharing of smell. Human-machine interfaces (HMIs) such as smartphones were once avant-garde, translating the fourth sense (touch) to share information virtually with others. Now, researchers are exploring ways to use HMIs to exchange other senses such as smell. Chunyu Yang and colleagues have designed an AI-supported wearable made of an e-nose and their new scent release platform, called Scentronic. They trained the e-nose to recognize the smell of beer, cake, coffee, oranges, and red wine through machine-learning identification of the substances’ volatile organic compounds. Then, they used Scentronic to convey odors to distant users. The device comes in two designs: a lightweight wristband with two odor channels for easy whiffing or a necklace with five odor channels aligned “like pearls on a string” for expedient sniffing. Yang et al . tested Scentronic’s performance with up to 16 volunteers. They also combined the interface with a flavor simulator (a water-filled cup that flavoring liquid dribbles into), using a model and preexisting parameters to gauge how this enhancement could work in the future. “This has broad applications for patients with nutritional challenges and populations like astronauts (facing unappealing food supplements) or warfighters (consuming field rations), where enhancing perceived food quality can have critical nutritional/performance outcomes,” the authors write. They also note that clinicians could one day use a device like theirs to evaluate patients’ sense of smell more accurately by exposing them to varying levels of odor intensity.
Science Advances
Scentronic: An artificial intelligence–assisted olfactory interface for remote odor sharing and transmission
21-Oct-2026