If you're like my roommate and buy groceries only to lose track of when they're going to go bad, this new research from MIT might interest you -- it's a wireless food spoilage sensor that detects when food is about to go bad and sends an alert to your smartphone so you can do the needful.
This inexpensive sensor identifies spoiled food early be detecting gases in the air, before sharing its data with your smartphone. The sensors are actually modified near-field communication (NFC) tags, which are often used as proximity sensors. The researchers punched a whole in NFC tags' electronic circuits and replaced the missing links with carbon nanotubes designed to detect gases.
While these sensors can be used to detect rotting food, they could potentially be used to detect everything from pollutants to explosives.
Why This Trend Is Growing
- Wireless Food Spoilage Sensors
- Opportunity for disruptive innovation in food safety and waste reduction by using wireless sensors to detect spoiled food.
- Early Detection of Food Spoilage
- Disruptive innovation opportunity in reducing food waste by developing sensors that detect spoiled food before it becomes inedible.
- Versatile Gas Detection Sensors
- Opportunity for disruptive innovation in various industries by leveraging gas detection sensors for detecting pollutants and explosives.
Industries Being Reshaped
- Food and Beverage
- Disruptive innovation potential in food safety and waste reduction by implementing wireless food spoilage sensors.
- Environmental Monitoring
- Opportunity for disruptive innovation in monitoring and detecting pollutants using gas detection sensors.
- Security and Defense
- Disruptive innovation potential in security and defense industries by utilizing gas detection sensors for early detection of explosives.
