Robotic hand pokes food and water to tell if they have mercury in them
A robotic hand with a tiny sensor on one of its fingers can detect potentially harmful mercury ions in samples of food and water by prodding them
Technology
6 February 2023
Snigdha Roy Barman et al.
A robotic hand equipped with a tiny sensor can detect harmful mercury ions in water or food by poking them.
The World Health Organization considers mercury a chemical of major public health concern because it can cause health issues if consumed via contaminated water or animals that have been exposed to it. Methods for detecting mercury in food and the environment exist, but most involve complicated and costly laboratory equipment and sometimes long processing times. So Snigdha Roy Barman at National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan and her colleagues decided to develop a quicker and simpler approach.
Their sensor is …