In spring, the flowers and trees blooming look very attractive but also signal a release of pollen which triggers allergies and hay fever in many people. Many drugs have become available to combat the symptoms but the release of pollen is significant. There is not much that can be done to control the amount of release from the trees or grasses but what is known is that the level of pollen seems to vary with climate conditions, rain, temperature and other unknown factors.
In 2009, a company in Japan decided to implement pollen robots which measure the amount of pollen. These “robots” were distributed to various people across the country and served to measure the amount of pollen that was in the air. The robots changed color based upon the pollen but also transmitted the data live to central locations. They also collect information about the weather like temperature, humidity and pressure. This distributed measurement allowed people to measure the amount of pollen in their neighborhoods and decide whether they wanted to go out.
See the video below for more information.
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