In a first step toward developing robots with a sense of taste, researchers have created a robotic tongue that can tell the difference between beer varieties and the amount of alcohol content in each.

According to the New York Daily News, a team of Spanish researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona have created an electronic tongue "trained" to recognize different beer varieties. It is correct 82 percent of the time.

The study, which was reportedly based on the human sense of taste, can tell the difference between Schwarzbier, lager, double malt, Pilsen, Alsatian and low-alcohol beer. While the electronic tongue can recognize these beverages relatively easily, though, it cannot recognize beverages it was not programmed to.

According to researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the artificial organ is made with 21 electrodes. Each one responded to different chemical compounds, such as ammonium, sodium, nitrate or chloride

"The concept of the electronic tongue consists in using a generic array of sensors, in other words with generic response to the various chemical compounds involved," Manel del Valle, the main author of the study, explained in a release.

Del Valle added that those sensors "generate a varied spectrum of information with advanced tools for processing, pattern recognition and even artificial neural networks." The author said this new tool is the first step toward creating robots with a sense of taste.

Del Valle told the Beverage Daily that he believes that the electronic tongue has a future in detecting wine fraud.

"We have already done a fantastic study to prove if a Cava sparkling wine is vintage or not, which is useful against possible fraud--the price of the two are quite different," de Valle told Beverage Daily.

The discovery was published in the journal Food Chemistry.