Robotic hand pokes food and water to tell if they have mercury in them

A robotic hand with a tiny sensor on one finger can detect potentially harmful mercury ions in food and water samples by protruding them.

To Carmela Padavich-Callaghan

Robotic hands equipped with tiny sensors can detect harmful mercury ions in water and food by piercing them.

The World Health Organization considers mercury to be a chemical of major public health concern because it can cause health problems when consumed through contaminated water or animals exposed to it. Methods exist to detect mercury in food and the environment, but most require complex and expensive laboratory equipment and sometimes long processing times. So Snigda Roy Berman and her colleagues at National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan decided to develop a quicker and easier approach.

their sensors…