Alistair Pernigo Receives Fellowship to Research Machine Smell Detection
O'Shaughnessy Ventures has awarded an O'Shaughnessy Fellowship to Alistair Pernigo, a researcher and entrepreneur focused on machine olfaction. The fellowship will support his work over the next year in developing a sensing prototype that enables machines to detect chemical signals in their environment. Pernigo is affiliated with MIT's Multisensory Intelligence group and co-authored SmellNet, a dataset for smell recognition published at an international conference in 2026. He also founded Timeless Way, a lab exploring perception systems. OSV CEO Jim O'Shaughnessy praised Pernigo’s innovative approach to solving the challenge of machine olfaction. The fellowship provides up to $100,000 and access to OSV's network for creative support.
Topics: artificial intelligence chemical sensing fellowship award machine olfaction