The Artificial Perceptual System — In a Perceptual Prosthesis? - Artificial Human Sensors: Science and Applications - page 177

and integrated into a pair of artificial visual-based spectacles with, for example,
vibrating outputs in connection to the skin. The same premises already exist for
the auditory prosthesis to be placed in or in connection to the ear. The develop-
ment advances in finding, tracking, and identifying objects in an artificial vision
system, e.g., a camera system, has to make decisions on very large distances with
high performance. These premises will hopefully find a market and be generally
available to strengthen the development of artificial human perceptual systems.
The ambition to replace or complement the procedure to fill the mouth with an
amount of liquid or food mixed with saliva, to provide proper sensing to decide
the gustatory properties, is maybe hard to realise as a traditional prosthesis device.
However, the pictures in Section 6.3.2, as well as Fig. 7.8 above is illustrative and
illustrate the principal solutions. The proposed sensing devices are placed at a dis-
tance to the body and may be an effective measurement procedure in conjunction
to the drinking of water or testing food. These systems are then considered to be a
personal exterior sensing device. A prototype of a possible safety device for drink-
ing water is shown in Fig. 7.8. In this application, the sensor is mounted on tap
water in kitchens and used by the whole family.
On the other hand if the perceptual gustatory sensing device is placed in a
very close conjunction to the mouth, however still outside the mouth, could this
solution be classified as a personal interior perceptual prosthesis? The distinction
can be further discussed, but the definition made in this section is that a personal
interior perceptual system is somehow in direct contact with the body, i.e. the very
close proximity of the human.
The personal interior perceptual system is also required to be considered as a
natural part of the body as illustrated by the person's left hand and arm in Fig. 7.7.
Figure 7.8. The taste sensor device for drinking water mounted on a water tap in the
kitchen. Photo courtesy and copyright Peter Wide c 2010.