A biotechnology startup called Koniku is trying to develop robots that could sniff out COVID-19 infections faster than conventional testing.
The technology fuses neurons with a silicon chip to create a “smell cyborg” capable of detecting scents ranging from explosives to pathogens.
Koniku’s first clinical trial began three weeks ago and will examine samples from patients tested for COVID-19 to compare how well the smell-bot detects the virus compared with traditional methods. Small internal trials have already demonstrated that it can accurately detect the presence of influenza A.
