Table of contents table How does it work? The possibilities for VR and beyond the way to a realistic meta -verse
In recent years, researchers have tried to make Virtual Reality (VR) more urgently and more personal. For example, the experts at Stockholm University created a machine called olfactometer in 2022, with which users in a game while wearing a VR headset smelled.
But the smell is only half of the picture. What if you could actually deliver a real taste on your tongue? A team from the Ohio State University has created a detection system called E-KEST that reproduce the taste of real foods and drinks and delivers it directly to the tongue of another person who lives hundreds of miles away.
The E button consists of two components of a taster and a receiver. The sensor contains a special patch that can recognize the basic molecules that are responsible for the five types of taste. Bitter, salty, acidic, sweet and umami. As part of their research, the team focused on recognizing glucose and glutamate on the sensor patch.
How does it work?
Ohio State University / Science progress
During the tests, a person based in California dipped the taster patch into the drink. The sensor patch recognized the concentration of the target chemicals in the lemonade and exceeded this electrochemical data to the receiver kit in an Ohio laboratory.
The recipient contains a patch that rests on the tongue and a pump connected to a liquid channel of solutions. When the liquid is electrically stimulated, it goes through a gel-based system onto the tongue of a person, which gives a realistic feeling for the tasting of food.
The specific taste and its intensity can be set by changing the fluid volume discharged by the pump. During human experiments, the participants who wore the recipient kit were able to identify different acid levels with an accuracy of 70%.
“Apart from the fact that the work built a better and more dynamic gaming experience, it could find that the work could be useful to promote accessibility and inclusiveness in virtual spaces for people with disabilities how people with traumatic brain violations or long covid, which starts the attention of the mainstream attention,” says the team.
Ohio State University / Science progress
It could also contribute to the identification and tasting of potential food sources under hard conditions, online shopping opportunities, remote training, quality monitoring to freshness and consistency through robot machines and remote analysis of taste perception by doctors.
The team tested e-button via two network protocols. The short-distance implementation included a distance of 200 meters, while the long-term design depends on an internet connection without restricting the distance.
The possibilities for VR and beyond
“This concept is here and it is a good first step in becoming a small part of the metaverse,” says Jinghua Li, co-author of the institution's paper and faculty member.
This will not be the first attempt of its kind to expand the VR experience with odor or taste experience. Two years ago, OVR unveiled the Ion 3 Wearable kit for XR hardware, with which hundreds of scents can be made with a cassette system.
The people at the City University of Hong Kong and the University of Beihang in China developed a patpat -based portable sensor that is dependent on miniaturized odor generators using perfume wax.
Ohio State University / Science progress
The VR kit can recognize pictures and produce the corresponding fragrance in about two seconds. But when it comes to perception of the taste, the sense of smell (or the call to smell) plays an equally important role.
The industry has already found out how to provide smell as part of the AR and VR experiences. The E-Test system shows that a realistic taste is triggered on the tongue from a distance.
In addition to lemonade, the team tested the human participants with chemicals of food quality that represent the taste of cakes, fried eggs, coffee and fish soup. This mixed pointalysis was carried out using an E-Tastes system with a mixed channel called Digital Cup.
As for latency, the short -term format measured with 0.3 seconds, while the images for the transfer of long -distance information are 1.4 seconds. The sensor reaction time, on the other hand, was about ten seconds.
The way to a realistic meta -verses
“The Gustatory interface will pave the way for a new era of AR/VR systems with chemical components by not only visualizing and hearing virtual environments, but also taste,” says the research work.
The team is now focusing on miniaturizing the E-button recording kit. In addition, they also experiment with a non-angel solution for the delivery of the taste chemicals. One of these ideas is to use separate water and fluids and to vary the concentration accordingly.
Ohio State University / Science progress
Water solves another crucial problem: residual chemicals in the channel connected to the tongue. After each session, a water flow cleaned the pipe internally and reduces the chances of pollution for future sessions.
Findings from the E key system can be used to develop VR gaming systems with which users can get an immersive sensation that are combined by the real taste and smell of what they see in a virtual world.
At the moment we have an experimentally validated system that can fold the taste into the virtual experiences. What remains is the miniaturization of the entire system and the standardization of the electrochemical data, which represent different foods and drinks.
In addition to the domain from VR and further to its modest computer station, there is another solution that will start on the market. Asus recently presented a mouse that is equipped with a refillable bag for aromatic oils. It can diffuse beautiful scents in the air and at the same time add zen to the entire working environment.
