Electronic Rescue Dog

As many people know, rescue dogs are one of the best resources for finding missing people in the aftermath of disasters. Their incredible sense of smell helps them to locate almost anyone they need to find, making them extremely valuable creatures. However, these search dogs aren't always readily available each time disaster strikes, so scientists at ETH Zurich have developed a tiny electronic "rescue dog" that can track down people the same way a dog would.

Professors at ETH Zurich have created a tiny chip-like sensor that has the capability to sense a person's smell and the chemicals that are emitted from their body to help locate them with accuracy. This chip is meant to mimic the powerful nose of a search dog. In the past, scientists at ETH Zurich have created similar sensors that are sensitive to gases emitted through the human body such as acetone, isoprene, and ammonia. The scientists combined this sensor with two other sensors for CO2 and moisture, creating the new dog-like sensor. 

"The combination of sensors for various chemical compounds is important, because the individual substances could come from sources other than humans. CO2, for example, could come from either a buried person or a fire source," says Andreas Güntner, a member of the team who created the product. Having more than one sensor in this device could be extremely helpful since it can often be difficult to tell what the source of a certain smell is, and combining these different sensors to work together to read to the data being filtered into them could be very beneficial.

Scientists at ETH Zurich have conducted several tests with volunteers in what they call "entrapment simulators." In some of their experiments, participants have remained "trapped" in a room for two hours, and they were then located by these sensors. Additionally, they conducted an experiment that would prove that these chips could differentiate between gases that are breathed out by humans, or gases that are emitted from the skin. Participants wore masks that could channel their breath out of the chamber in the first part of the experiment, and in the second part, their breath would remain in the room. The chip was able to detect which gases were in the air within the chamber during both tests, proving that it could tell the difference between gases like ammonia, acetone, and isoprene. They hope to be able to test in the actual environment of a natural disaster such an an earthquake.

While similar devices have been created, none have been able to filter the chemicals in the air and determine the location of a victim using gas sensors. ETH sees great potential for this product in the future, with possibilities for drones to be equipped with the sensors in order to cover more ground faster and more efficiently. This device could very well replace search dogs altogether if it can replicate and even outdo the efficiency of a dog's tracking abilities.