Advertising of meals from restaurants on various Internet sites caused if you ever appetite? Or maybe you wanted to smell the new fragrance of one of the famous brands? Then imagine that they can taste the food, test the spirits and even hug friends remotely, i.e. online!
In this post we want to talk about the latest technologies for remote transmission of sensations that will change the concept of advertising and the entire online process of testing of the product — through touch, taste and smell.
The sense of touch in the virtual world
We are capable of tactile sensations through the skin consisting of several layers and many receptors. Obtaining information skin occurs through a complex mechanism, and the person is able to distinguish between the different sensations, ranging from stylus input, and ending with iron.
In 1980-ies in the imagination of scientists had the idea about the sense of touch in virtual reality. The first attempts to implement it were undertaken in the Laboratory of virtual reality at NASA. Then the us Agency added physical space, which allowed to bring some sensitivity into a virtual reality where the student is.
Wandering around in the virtual room, the man refers to special sensors that generate electrical impulses. They allow you to feel created before it. In result, NASA could not fully implement the idea of scientists in this area, but was close to creating what is today referred to as mixed or hybrid reality.
The concept of a touchable virtual reality also began to develop Microsoft. In 2016 it will submit a draft: one of the volunteers wearing a suit for immersion in virtual reality, and while walking on the screen appeared a woman. The man hugged her and felt the same feelings as if it were real.
Tactile (haptic) devices for virtual reality
Perhaps the first devices designed to provide tangibility in the virtual space, are haptic device. They can have different shapes, for example, in the form of a computer mouse or tip which is worn on the finger.
Despite the numerous types of such devices, they all work on the same principle — they generate electric impulse that is transmitted to the skin, and similar to the impulse that is generated by contact with a particular thing.
Remote device management
New British company Ultrahaptics developed a small set of devices, consisting of the 64 ultrasonic transducers that allow people to feel virtual objects.
Touching the waves in the air, the user feels like for the device, more precisely the fact that simulates the texture together with the underlying real device.
Suit with fake arms
Adrian Cheok, Professor of computer science at City University London, has created a special costume — wearing it, you will be able to hug someone in the distance.
The sense of smell in the virtual space
Scientists have developed several ways to transfer odors at Bay. The first of such innovations was a device called the Scentee. It is a small device that connects to the phone via a conventional connector, and operates through the application. In addition, it contains cartridges with different flavors.
If you want to feel a particular smell, these cartridges emit a similar substance, but there is one problem — the device was difficult to use and replace the print cartridges whenever they run out components.
These devices are sold in Japan, sales to reach 10 thousand units per month, and contain many well-known scents of flowers or perfume.
At the same time, the developers are trying to find ways to be more simple transfer of odors at Bay and to increase their number. Thus, the French neuroscientist Olivier Ollier has created a device that can stimulate your sense of smell by means of a magnetic mechanism when the olfactory bulb receives information about smell by stimulating receptors in the nasal cavity.
Remote transmission of taste
The developers used a variety of methods of transfer of taste at a distance, the first of which is “electronic stimulation” of the language. Thus was created a gadget that generates electromagnetic waves for every taste.
As you know, when you feel any aroma, the information enters the brain through electrical impulse. Scientists simulated this pulse using a small device.
The second method is the transfer of taste sensations has been found by researchers from Meiji University in Japan. The gadget is a metal cylinder with a colored gel contacts each of which activates one of the five basic tastes: sweet, bitter, salty, sour and umami — a pleasant, pungent taste, added Japan in 1990.
When the five contacts of the device relate to the language, one can sense all five tastes, but when you apply different electric charges without much harm some of the taste quality can be increased, while others become weaker.
When you see the image of a specific product on the screen creates an electrical impulse that stimulates his taste. When a user touches a tongue to a metal cylinder, he feels the taste of food, for example, the famous Japanese dish “sushi”.
Similar efforts are under way at the National University of Singapore, where a team of researchers working on a “digital Lollipop,” by which people will be able to enjoy the sweet, salty, sour or bitter tastes.
According to the forecasts of the developers, these technologies will be widely used in the field of advertising and marketing. Any restaurant owner will be able to create technical team, which will include simulation of flavors for all customers who wish to try them at a distance, using various technologies in this field. In addition, the expected wide adoption of devices to smell, and touch in virtual and mixed space.
