ScentDia a novel robotic prEssence

ScentDia – A novel robotic prE(s)sence

Mari Velonaki: original concept, interface & interaction design

Manos Gerakinis: perfume creation

Luisa Damiano:  research related to philosophical, epistemological and ethical aspects

The world is changing with great speed and technology plays an important role. High tech, robots and AI become part of our everyday life and they will surely shape the future. Many questions are unanswered, most of them are related to social connections with humans and their social behavior. Key to all of the above is the ethical aspect: how similar to man should a robot be? Should behaviors and interactions be any different?

Mari Velonaki, professor of social robotics at UNSW, was the first to incorporate the olfactory stimuli in ScentDia, a novel robotic prE(s)sence in collaboration with perfume creator, Manos Gerakinis and Luisa Damiano, philosopher of science at IULM University. This is the first custom scent developed for an interactive social robot. As the robot navigates through the space it releases its own scent, creating a unique trail and awareness of its presence.

“Conceiving a fragrance for a robot was an important task and a challenge. The importance lies in the fact that different human senses are gradually added to robots but in regards to olfaction, there was no previous attempt.” Manos says and continues” It was also a big challenge as fragrances are currently made for the people and not for robots. So, setting the reference for something so unique was intriguing. Where do you start?” Scent Dia, is the first humanoid piece of art with a scent signature and so it responds to its visitors and surroundings by movement, sound and now scent.

ScentDia was born in Sydney, Australia by Mari Velonaki and its scent was created by Greek niche perfume brand owner Manos Gerakinis together with the perfume team of Vioryl. Even if not a human, this piece of art has a story to narrate, an origin and a family. Manos, in his attempt to conceive the scent of a robot, discovered through his research that according to Homer, the ancient Greek god Hephaistos created “handmaidens wrought of gold in the semblance of living maids”, that could be considered the ancestor of today’s robots. In fact, the exterior of ScentDia reminds him of a Greek “kore”, a free-standing ancient Greek sculpture of the Archaic period depicting female figures, always of a young age.

The fragrance itself is an objective interpretation of what a scent for a robot is but becomes a stepping stone to an open dialogue that only just started. A metallic scent, blended with cypriol and sandalwood, used to pay tribute to its country of origin but also citruses and oakmoss that connect it to Greece. This is a fragrance that has many readings while its main purpose was not to please but to become the means for a robot to better communicate with all humans.

ScentDia premiered on the 21st of February 2025 at the Leonardo da Vinci museum in Milan.