Electronic tongue to determine what liquid is with AI

The human taste is the product of thousands of years of evolution. Since humans have a sensitive tongue, it is possible to recognize substances harmful to the human body and to enjoy food and beverages. However, mechanical sensors do not yet have the accuracy of recognizing materials as precise as the human tongue.

For this reason, IBM is developing an electronic tongue Hypertaste that can easily determine whether a liquid is suitable for drinking in a small portable device. HyperTaste is a liquid analysis device that uses AI to quickly identify complex liquids. A technology called combinatorial detection allows advanced liquid analysis with minimal hardware. Combination sensing is a form of identifying the characteristics of the liquid to be analyzed by constructing a cross-sensing sensor array that reacts individual sensors to different chemicals simultaneously.

The sensor array is immersed in a liquid, and in this way, the AI assist sensor recognizes the liquid chemistry pattern in a combination pattern that resembles human taste and smell. HyperTaste remembers the voltage signal for each liquid in the sensor array, and if it is orange juice, it collects different voltage information for each liquid using this number to find out what the liquid is. In addition, the sensor part has a polymer-based interchangeable design.

The collected data is analyzed by machine learning algorithms trained on the terminal or in the cloud. Machine learning algorithms determine which liquid database is most scientifically similar to liquids. The analysis results can be checked through the mobile app. In addition, at the time of the proof-of-concept test, it was said that it was only less than 1 minute until the analysis result came out.

IBM sees the potential for HyperTaste to work in a variety of industries. It is paying attention to its application in fields such as supply chain, manufacturing, environment, and life science. IBM has cited many examples of water quality testing in lakes and rivers, identification of manufacturer raw materials, and identification of counterfeit wines and whiskeys. Related information can be found here .