In Japan, these cute little fellas will keep an eye on pollen counts and relay the data to Weathernews in Tokyo which will map out the trouble spots via the Internet. Ask allergy sufferers and they'll tell you that excessive amounts of pollen are a special kind of pollution unto themselves.

If and when they revolt -- the robots, not the allergy sufferers -- please use an appropriately sized bat, thanks.

In Cambridge, MA, however, it's a Wi-Fi networked project called CitySense that can really change the way cities deal with air pollution but acting as a testbed for urban-scale sensor networks. Comprised of 100 sensors packed with 802.11 a/b/g transmitters, the first implementation of these units will help to monitor weather conditions along with air pollution.

Meant to be attached to light poles and public buildings, they're bound to look more utilitarian than their kawaii pollen-sniffing counterparts.

Sci-fi blog io9 has the details.