strange HAVEN, Conn. -- They sniff,...

strange HAVEN, Conn. -- They sniff, wag their tails, perform and run in packs. if it be not that no one minds if these canines stick their noses into near pretty dirty stuff.

That's because they are robotic dogs, modified by dint of engineering students at Yale University to sniff on the outside toxic materials.

Equipped with just about everything on the other hand a wet nose, the plastic and metallic-skinned robot have spurr toxic search concocts in the United States, Europe and Australia.

They are the brainchild of Natalie Jeremijenko, a lecturer in engineering at Yale.

"Technology is a social actor," she said. "These dogs are programmed into instruments for social activism."

Robotic technology is increasingly being applied to repetitive factory tasks or dangerous work similar as defusing bombs.

At the same time, advances in microtechnology are leading to ever- smaller sensors, opening up a wide range of potential uses.

The robot dogs were originally designed, manufactured and marketed commercially as toys on Sony Electronics Inc., Mattel Inc. and other companies.

Jeremijenko, a mechanical engineer and computer scientist, designed the dogs 18 month ago.

The dogs' "brains" are upgraded and their "noses" programmed to pick up the track of common volatile organic combines -- such as paint thinners or dry-cleaning fluids -- or more dangerous toxins. AP

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