ScentDia: the project explained by Professor Damiano

Ahead of the world premiere of the ScentDia project to be held on February 21, 2025 at 7:30 pm at the Museum of Science and Technology in Milan, we asked Professor Luisa Damiano a few questions.

Editor: Can you tell us how the ScentDia project came about and how you and IULM were involved ?

Luisa Damiano: My work aims to integrate philosophy of science, complex systems theories and ethics into the process of developing social robots so that they become our partners, not substitutes. At IULM University I found a frontier transdisciplinary environment, which encouraged me to make this approach dialogue with the artistic dimension. In my perspective, the encounter between philosophy and art opens up spaces in which we can experiment with new ways of interacting with social robots prior to their deployment. In other words: we can experiment with segments of our possible futures and thus critically reflect on how we can use this technology to support our positive self-development. When artist and roboticist Mari Velonaki proposed that I collaborate with her on creating new forms of social presence for robots, I saw a unique opportunity to explore the potential of this dialogue between art, robotics, and philosophy.

Editor: What are the aims of the project and what innovations does it bring?

Luisa Damiano: ScentDia is part of Mari Velonaki'srobotic series Diamandini. It is the third and, for now, the last work in the series, in whose creation Mari wanted to involve perfume artist Manos Gerakinis and myself. ScentDia is a unique social robot because it is designed to interact with humans not only through movements and sounds, but also through olfactory stimuli. For the first time, a social robot incorporates a scent specifically created for a robotic agent, with the goal of enriching its "presence" and interactivity. The essence of ScentDia, developed by Manos, is not just an aesthetic element, but conveys a precise philosophical and ethical message. Social robots should not be designed and built as our substitutes. They must be conceived and created as artificial agents that are different from both inanimate objects and living beings and, specifically, human beings. In ScentDia, even the sense of smell thus becomes a means of constructing a unique robotic identity, capable of inhabiting our social spaces without blending into our identity.

Editor: Are further future developments planned and if so what will they be?

Luisa Damiano: ScentDia's innovation may soon find application in service robots. Its "olfactory presence," which began as an artistic expression, could become a key element in improving interaction between humans and robots in different contexts. One possible development involves assisting blind people, for whom the sense of smell could become an essential communication channel in human-robot interactions. But the potential goes beyond that. In the areas of personal services, the use of olfactory cues could make interactions more engaging and help us build a robotic form of identity for these new artificial agents, apt to distinguish them markedly from humans.