Sign in / up

back to article Denver robocops fit Nasal Ranger to perceive potent pot puffing pollution

Colorado is one of two US states to legalize the sale of marijuana but this has led to an increase in complaints about the smell of skunk wafting through neighborhoods – so the authorities are using technology to cyborg up their inspectors. Nasal Ranger Looks silly, but serves a serious purpose. Credit: Hyoung Chang, The …

COMMENTS

House rules Send corrections
This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Not_The_Droids

    Futurama already did it...

    Good news, everyone! Someone finally invented a real Smelloscope...

    13 0
    1. ecofeco Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Futurama already did it...

      Damn! You beat me to it!

      0 0
    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Futurama already did it...

      A device that can be defeated by a hot curry and several pints the night before, making "a stench so foul it's right off the funkometer. "

      0 0
  2. Chris G

    They can fine you $2000 for smell

    Sound like arseholes to me!

    1 0
  3. Don Jefe

    And with a single product, 13 years of police force militarization and psychological intimidation is nullified.

    2 0
    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Big Brother

      You wish! You can still get a cap popped in your arse if you so much as fart wrongly at a checkpoint.

      Additionally, AFAIK the State of Colorado may be okay with pot, but the FBI can still bust you. Because they are FEDS, nyahaha!

      2 0
      1. Don Jefe
        Reply Icon
        Happy

        Yeah, but if you're going to be roughly handled by the cops anyway, scoring a good laugh at their expense should blunt the pain some.

        0 0
  4. phil dude
    Coat

    reminds me of...

    My Nosy Bonk....

    Was I too young or was it the drugs...?

    P.

    1 0
  5. leeCh
    Holmes

    Lock, Stock and ...

    Two smoking barrels, from your double barreled snot gun.

    1 0
  6. William Boyle

    It's a sales opportunity!

    I think that soon Colorado will be the world leader in the sale of Ozium!

    1 0
  7. MrDamage Silver badge

    Finally

    We can do something about those inconsiderate wankers who refuse to bathe. Or bathe in a few litres of cologne. Or think its their right to eat copious amounts of garlic with every meal and stink the place up. Or even just those whose diets are so poor, their farts could be classed as a bio-chemical weapon.

    2 1
    1. Euripides Pants
      Reply Icon

      Re: Finally

      "Or think its their right to eat copious amounts of garlic with every meal and stink the place up."

      I'd apologize but you really ought to know better than to have your mouth open within 20 feet* of me...

      *that's 6.096 meters for you Europeans

      0 0
  8. JustWondering
    Thumb Down

    What the ...

    I thought one of the benefits of legalization would be that the police could spend more time fighting crime. Will police with this apparatus be spending their time lurking outside of windows? Of course, if they can make $2000 a time ... how many speeding tickets is that?

    Will this affect the usual festivities on April 20?

    1 0
  9. Anonymous Coward
    Windows

    A stench of a different colour

    WHY isn't this way cool tech being applied to the detection of tobacco? Or is it? And what about those 'scent-challenged' individuals that make life such a living hell for the rest of us? Huh? I'm not talking flatulence (altho that matters too!), but just plain olfactory assault. There oughtta be a law!

    And, thanks to good old American know-how, we now possess the means to tamp down on the rotten miscreants! I say use it, and use it righteously! MAKE that law. The Nasal Freedom Act! We've been overcome for too long. A new breeze is blowing, and it's blowing towards YOU, my friends...

    1 0
  10. frank ly

    "... greater than a 7-to-1 dilution rate to be deemed a nuisance"

    Shouldn't that be 'less than 7-to-1 dilution ..." to be noticable and therefore a nuisance?

    (I'm assuming that 7-1 dilution means 7 parts air to 1 part smelly substance.)

    0 0
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "... greater than a 7-to-1 dilution rate to be deemed a nuisance"

      "...I'm assuming that 7-1 dilution means 7 parts air to 1 part smelly substance."

      Eeewwwwww!

      0 0
  11. Scroticus Canis
    Windows

    Saddle Sniffers Delight

    How long before this is re-marketed for the Dirty Mac Brigade?

    Might be of use for the hyena bum-juice researchers mentioned in:

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/12/hyenas_use_smelly_bacteria_as_social_network/

    0 0
  12. disgruntled yank

    Interesting

    One used to be smell the malt of the Coors brewery five miles away. Will Coors have to add filters?

    0 0
  13. Identity
    Coat

    It's only

    spelled "luxuryyacht..."

    0 0
  14. skeptical i

    only applies to MJ?

    "the odor of wacky baccy must be greater than a 7-to-1 dilution rate to be deemed a nuisance" As others have pointed out above, if a line is going to drawn in the sand for marijuana certainly there are other less-benign aromas that should be regulated (cheaper- by- the- gallon "cologne" being one) ... although this could lead to harassment in ethnic neighborhoods where cuisine is pungent and flavorful.

    0 0
  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    ED-209, special Colorado "Enforcement Dude" edition

    "Please put down your bong. You have twenty seconds to comply ... you now have fifteen seconds to comply, you are in direct violation of the penal code ... you have five seconds to comply ... c'mon, man, just put down the bong, OK?"

    0 0
This topic is closed for new posts.