| Funding period: | May 1, 2024 to Oct. 31, 2025 |
| Agency: | Volkswagen Foundation |
We acknowledge funding by the Volkswagen Foundation project "PERCEPTRONICS - Mit allen Sinnen digital erleben" (PERCEPTRONICS exhibition)
The proposed project on science communication builds on the results of the main project Olfactorial PERCEPTRONICS (http://perceptronics.science/), which is funded as part of the funding initiative "Kurswechsel - Forschungsneuland zwischen den Lebenswissenschaften und Natur- oder Technikwissenschaften". This deals with the human sense of smell and its digitalization. While senses such as sight, hearing and touch have been technically implemented for a long time, a deep understanding of the physiological and psychological mechanisms of smell and the technical implementation of this sense is still in its infancy. This sense is based on physico-chemical processes, the effects of which are to be investigated in the main project. It was recognized early on that the mere detection of a certain number of molecules is not sufficient for an electronic analogue of the human sense of smell. An artificial nose requires not only sensation, but also perception - the interpretation of sensation in the light of experience. This can be achieved by using large empirical data sets of human perception and artificial intelligence methods. A breakthrough in "perceptronics" can only be achieved through a concerted effort between technology, psychology and medicine that stringently combines the latest advances in the three disciplines. The interdisciplinary group of young scientists in the main project is working on four closely interlinked research topics in the fields of (nano)sensory technology, sense of smell, perception and machine learning in a networked qualification concept. The aim of the group is to technologically advance the digitization of the sense of smell in such a way that electronic noses enable an experience- and context-based perception of odours. Following the official start of the project in the second half of 2022, the research work in the main project is currently in an early phase, with selection and recruitment processes for the group's young scientists still ongoing in some cases. The work will build on the project partners' many years of experience, including from the preparatory project, and will already be so far advanced at the start of the funding applied for here that results from the main project can be incorporated into the communication project.
The proposed science communication project and the individual measures contained therein are intended to make the group's goals and the interdisciplinary ways to achieve them accessible to a broad public and a selected target group in a museum environment. In particular, the physiological and psychological mechanisms of olfactory perception and their implementation through technical processes in the direction of "digital smelling" and the interplay with other senses are to be brought closer to the visitors of the exhibition.
| Funding period: | May 1, 2024 to Oct. 31, 2025 |
| Agency: | Volkswagen Foundation |
We acknowledge funding by the Volkswagen Foundation project "PERCEPTRONICS - Mit allen Sinnen digital erleben" (PERCEPTRONICS exhibition)
The proposed project on science communication builds on the results of the main project Olfactorial PERCEPTRONICS (http://perceptronics.science/), which is funded as part of the funding initiative "Kurswechsel - Forschungsneuland zwischen den Lebenswissenschaften und Natur- oder Technikwissenschaften". This deals with the human sense of smell and its digitalization. While senses such as sight, hearing and touch have been technically implemented for a long time, a deep understanding of the physiological and psychological mechanisms of smell and the technical implementation of this sense is still in its infancy. This sense is based on physico-chemical processes, the effects of which are to be investigated in the main project. It was recognized early on that the mere detection of a certain number of molecules is not sufficient for an electronic analogue of the human sense of smell. An artificial nose requires not only sensation, but also perception - the interpretation of sensation in the light of experience. This can be achieved by using large empirical data sets of human perception and artificial intelligence methods. A breakthrough in "perceptronics" can only be achieved through a concerted effort between technology, psychology and medicine that stringently combines the latest advances in the three disciplines. The interdisciplinary group of young scientists in the main project is working on four closely interlinked research topics in the fields of (nano)sensory technology, sense of smell, perception and machine learning in a networked qualification concept. The aim of the group is to technologically advance the digitization of the sense of smell in such a way that electronic noses enable an experience- and context-based perception of odours. Following the official start of the project in the second half of 2022, the research work in the main project is currently in an early phase, with selection and recruitment processes for the group's young scientists still ongoing in some cases. The work will build on the project partners' many years of experience, including from the preparatory project, and will already be so far advanced at the start of the funding applied for here that results from the main project can be incorporated into the communication project.
The proposed science communication project and the individual measures contained therein are intended to make the group's goals and the interdisciplinary ways to achieve them accessible to a broad public and a selected target group in a museum environment. In particular, the physiological and psychological mechanisms of olfactory perception and their implementation through technical processes in the direction of "digital smelling" and the interplay with other senses are to be brought closer to the visitors of the exhibition.
