Do Androids Smell?

They could have the aroma of donuts or that new car smell

image created by the author in Leonardo.ai

I was thinking about our effort to duplicate the ideal humanoid and have them moving in and around us.

When I woke up this morning I wondered: what they will smell like?

There are so many commercials urging humans to cover, hide, and or remove their natural body odors, I wondered if humanoid robots would have a very pleasurable scent or none at all?

We humans have a long history of our attempts to smell good. Maybe robots will have a selection of plugins perhaps filled with pheromones for those who choose to engage robots for intimate behavior.

In ancient Egypt, people used scented oils and perfumes made from flowers, herbs, and spices.

The Egyptians valued cleanliness and took baths often. Some wore special wax cones on their heads that melted during the day, releasing a pleasant fragrance. *BBC History

In ancient Greece and Rome, bathing was popular and folks rubbed scented oils on their skin after washing. The Romans built large public bathhouses where people could clean themselves and apply perfumes. Some used powders to reduce odors. * Smithsonian

People believed during the Middle Ages that bathing often would lead to illness. They covered the smells with scented herbs and carried little sweet-smelling pouches that were often sewn into clothing. Perfume making began.

During the Renaissance, perfumes became even more popular. The art of making perfume flourished In France and Italy. People even wore scented gloves. *The Story of Perfume from Cleopatra to Chanel by Anne Stoddard.

By the 19th century, this all changed. People accepted the importance of bathing more often. They began using powders, like starch and zinc oxide, to absorb sweat and reduce odor. Instead of just covering up bad smells, people wanted to stop them. The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History by Katherine Ashenburg

Right before the beginning of the 1900s came the first commercial deodorant.

In the 1920s, roll-on deodorants became popular, and by the 1960s, spray deodorants were introduced. The commercial business grew as people could smell good all day long. *

*U.S. Patent Records — The first commercial deodorant (Mum, 1888) and the first antiperspirant (Everdry, 1903) were documented in patent records.

So, with all this in mind, perhaps robots will have artificial sweat and maybe artificial bad body odor. The marketplace will have something to say about that.

“What we humans smell begins when very small scent particles, called odor molecules, enter our noses. When we breathe in, these odor molecules travel up into the nasal cavity, where they reach a special patch of cells called the olfactory epithelium.” Moran, D. T., Rowley, J. C., & Jafek, B. W. (2019). The fine structure of the olfactory mucosa in humans. Journal of Anatomy

“The olfactory epithelium is covered in millions of tiny receptors, which act like locks that only respond to certain smells. When an odor molecule fits into one of these receptors, it sends a signal to the brain through the olfactory nerve.” Buck, L., & Axel, R. A molecular basis for odor recognition.

This nerve connects directly to a part of the brain that processes smells and helps us discern the smells.

“Once the olfactory bulb receives the signals, it sends them to different areas of the brain, including the limbic system and the cortex.” Zhou, W., Yang, X., Chen, K., et al. “Functional MRI evidence of the olfactory system’s role in emotion and memory.” Neuroimage 2019.

This whole process is responsible for emotions and memories. This explains why certain smells can remind us of past experiences.

Our reality is greatly affected by our senses, and smell is an integral factor that helps us humans. If we have our own personal robots, what will their odors smell like and will they also be able to smell us?

Smelling us may be more important than robot odors because science is discovering and continuing to investigate how our individual smells can determine health information about us and detect diseases. So it would be very cool if your personal robot could be able to detect your state of being and alert the hospital if necessary.

Regarding what odors a robot could emit, this author would love to have a personal humanoid robot with a whole array of options!

Follow Phyllis Haynes on Substack and subscribe to her posts.