“When Biology is Tech, Nature is Your Open Source Library” — Covid-Sniffing Robots Offer Testing Alternative

Biotechnology startup Koniku is working on developing robots that could sniff out Covid-19 infections faster than conventional testing, as explained in this recent Bloomberg article. The technology fuses neurons with a silicon chip to create a “smell cyborg” capable of detecting a wide variety of scents, including explosives and pathogens.

We had Koniku’s founder, Osh Agabi, share a glimpse into the future at GOTO Copenhagen two years ago. Osh introduced his startup and how they leverage wetware — a merger of biological and computing technology — to bring his vision of technology taking the shape of “an extension of ourselves, to be able to define reality as we wish it to be” to life.

As ambitions to create newer and faster supercomputers grow, so do the challenges. Increasing computational power comes with demands of scale, stability and accessibility.

Osh’s GOTO Copenhagen keynote showcased how Koniku is working to solve this issue by harnessing the power of biological neurons to create next generation supercomputers. “Real” neurons are connected, not just to each other but to silicon chips.

Fast forward to today, and this bio-technological startup has developed their neuron-silicon fused technology further. With a focus on the global pandemic, Koniku has set its sights onto detecting COVID cases as a faster, more effective and more efficient screening method.

Dive into recent field tests and find out how dogs influenced the Konikore in Bloomberg’s article on Koniku’s “Smell Cyborg.”

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-01/covid-sniffing-robots-offer-a-testing-alternative-startup-bets