If there’s one thing we’re experienced at here at Tom’s Hardware, it’s sniffing out a good Raspberry Pi This project almost beat us! Maker, developer and artist Ardan Aga’s latest project is using our favorite SBC inside of his Giant nose sculpture. This interactive art display is able to “sniff” objects before printing out a thorough description of the object’s odor poetically.
Users must place a small object under the nostrils to interact with the nose. The Raspberry Pi is turned on and the camera module identifies an object. So it’s not exactly smelling objects but rather detecting them using image recognition. The object will be identified and a printer will print the description of expected smell. It also prints a printout of a nostril.
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GPT-4 is used to handle the image description process. It processes details about the object’s smells and compiles the description in a poetic manner so the user receives something more exciting to read about the odor. Text-to-speech is used to read the poem out loud.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation has an exclusive on the hardware that is used in the nose. It’s powered by a Raspberry Pi 4 that’s connected to a camera module with a fisheye lens. The Pi also has a thermal receipt printout and a sensor that measures distance to determine when an item is underneath.
Software-wise, the nose relies on one of the most popular languages of choice—Python. The distance sensor is used as a source of data, and a simple script allows the nose to know when to start parsing images. This triggers the GPT-4 to create a beautiful poem that describes the smell.
The Olfactory Art Keller Gallery in New York displayed the nose sculpture. Check out the demo video that was shared on YouTube to get an even closer look at the Raspberry Pi Project. Be sure to also follow Ardan Aga in order to keep up with his future cool creations.
