Give the robots electronic tongues

Wired Magazine makes the case for outfitting robots with electronic tongues and looks at what it would take to make it a reality. Read more at Wired.

…This tongue can go where ours dare not, and taste things ours cannot. You might use an electronic tongue to taste foods for harmful additives or other adulterations, for instance. “We can easily enable them to discriminate different food products,” says Nery, “to use them instead of expert panels, or in online shopping to check what is fresh, but the problem is how this information will be delivered to us. There is no way to give us a sensation of taste without sticking electrodes in the brain, and it is surely not a viable option for mass use.”