Meet Olly, the World’s First Web-Connected Smellmaking Robot

Remember the last time you were sitting at your computer thinking: “Man, I just posted the funniest status ever and everyone knows it, I just wish there was a robot that could page me every time somebody clicks the ‘Like’ button.”? Well, think no more, you smooth talker you, because the mathematicians, roboticists, and olfactreurs over at Mint Foundry just launched your new best friend: Olly, the “web-connected smelly robot.”

That’s right, now every time a Kardashian gets divorced or an #OWS-er tweets “#Pepperspray!”, with the right API’s, Olly will let you know with an innocuous blast of any oil, salve or essence—really any scent you can insert in Olly, will disperse. Basically, if it’s online and gives off a notification (think Instagram, Twitter, email, the L train being down), Olly can be programmed to give off the complementary scent of your choosing.

While there’s still no word on when Olly will be able to create its own smells based on what you’re being notified of, or when websites will finally get broadcast in SMELL-O-VISION!!! (Think about all the applications it could have for the… food industry…), the project is open source and wholly customizable, so expect to see some scintillating hacks in the very near future.

Below, a video of Olly working alongside one of its creators. While we can’t legally say what we might be using Olly for, here’s to hoping this article gets a lot of retweets…

What do you think?!