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New Smartphone Camera Could Tell You What Things Are Made of

Posted by samzenpus on from the scan-me dept.

Zothecula writes How would you like to be able to know the chemical composition of something, just by taking a snapshot or video of it with your smartphone? You may eventually be able to, thanks to a compact hyperspectral imaging camera being developed at Tel Aviv University. "Hyperspectral imaging involves scanning light spectra not visible to the human eye, in order to identify the unique electromagnetic 'fingerprints' of various substances and processes. While this can already be done with larger cameras, a team led by Tel Aviv's Prof. David Mendlovic is developing a much smaller optical component that could conceivably be built into a smartphone. It utilizes MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) technology, and is reportedly 'suitable for mass production and compatible with standard smartphone camera designs.'"

2 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. Nice for jewelry by paulpach · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Would come in handy to see if that piece of jewelry is really gold and the diamond is not just cubic zirconia

    Of course, it could be fooled by gold coating, bit it is still better than nothing.

  2. Perfect is the enemy of good by sjbe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The problem is that the spectroscopic techniques capable amenable to implemention on a small device can only give some general information about a material or mixture

    It doesn't have to do everything to be super useful. There is this tendency by a lot of people here on slashdot to think that something has to be a perfect replacement for existing technology to be viable. I could use something that could tell the difference between PVC and nylon right now. If it could do more that would be nice but even basic uses could be hugely beneficial.

    However, it is not going to identify the presence of a toxin in a bowl of soup or tell you that your gold watch is only gold-plated.

    That is a limitation but it's like saying that the camera in my cellphone is useless because it doesn't have a telephoto lens. There are a huge number of applications for a rudimentary spectroscope. I could use one in my factory today to check wire jacketing composition or conductor composition. (Brass or Bronze-Phosphor or Copper, etc)