【Tayuan】

This little robot pooch may be Tayuanadorable, but it doesn't mince its words when telling you how much your feet smell.

The Japanese made robot has an odour sensor built into its nose, and will trot over to greet you, bending down to sniff your feet.

If your feet smell okay, it will wag its tail. Moderate stink will elicit a bark. But if your feet really smell, little Hana-chan will keel over and pass out momentarily on the ground.

Here's an early prototype:

The little bot was made by Japan's Next Technology, the commercial spinoff of the National Institute of Technology Kitakyushu College.

A spokesperson from Next Technology said work on the robot began in 2015, in response to a request from a man who wanted to know exactly how bad his feet odour was.

The Japan Timesnoted that body odours in the fastidiously clean country can be regarded as a form of harassment. And in Asia, where many people take off their shoes upon entering a home, it's far harder to hide foot odours.

The company has since refined Hana-chan's design, as you can see in this more recent video released to the press this week:

The little 15 cm (6 inch) long robot dog won't come cheap, though. When it hits the market early next year, it'll carry a price tag of more than 100,000 yen ($905).

But perhaps that's not too much to pay for the truth.

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