I see a sort of structural flaw. They seem to be matching measurements against known materials and then reporting that. But where is the utility? Figuring out whether a pill is asprin or tylenol? I'd be interested in identifying characteristic of -new- materials unknown to the database. That's where the raw information is really crucial.
This seems like it could be pretty useful to, say, the blind. Also a great educational tool, a notion which isn't just limited to children (one of the primary drivers of change is consciousness raising -- e.g. a dieter monitoring their food intake may find this tool useful).
IR Spectroscopy is purely a pattern matching game. All it will ever do is compare a spectrum to a known one. The raw information would be useful to very few people outside of a lab environment.
That said, I will probably recommend that my PI order one for our lab.
