Virtual reality can transport users to a distant experience in their own unique, imperfect way. Turning on the headset gives everyday people a quick glimpse into what it’s like to have surgery. Visit the Louvre Museumor I’ll even arrest him. However, one thing VR still can’t do is simulate the experience of eating lunch. However, that could change thanks to a new “bio-integrated taste interface” device called “e-taste.”
Researchers at Ohio State University detail how this week’s new devices work journal Advances in science. They created a small electromagnetic pump connected to a liquid channel of chemicals. This can approximate the taste of coffee, lemonade, cakes, and other foods and drinks when mixed in the right proportions. The newly crafted chemical liquid is then pushed through the gel. Users ultimately experience the taste as a liquid in their mouth. Researchers can then remotely control the gel’s perceived intensity. Additionally, although the first group of human subjects struggled to accurately distinguish between different taste profiles, this study suggests that future VR steakhouse experiences are not as far apart as they appear.
Researchers analyzed flavors at a molecular level
E-Taste consists of three different phases. In the first phase, a set of sensors is used to analyze foods and drinks to recognize common molecules such as glucose and glutamic acid. Various combinations of these chemicals correspond to five basic flavors: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. Once the sample is analyzed, the system encodes the data and sends it wirelessly to the e-Taste device. Researchers do not need to be in the same room or in the same state to send this flavor data. In fact, the paper details one California-based researcher who immerses a sensor patch in a glass of lemonade and sends a “digital instruction” to accommodate colleagues operating devices in Ohio.
The second phase of the process focuses on replicating the initial sample flavor. The small electromagnetic pump contains multiple liquid chambers filled with chemicals that correspond to different taste sensations. These chemicals are combined into a “mixing zone” of proportions determined by the putative molecules present in the food or drink they are trying to mimic. Once the desired flavor profile is achieved, researchers can adjust the timing of the pump cycle to increase or decrease the overall strength of the flavor. Next, convert the final mixture to a gel. The water flowing through the gel brings the flavor into the end user’s mouth. (They do not swallow chemical formulas). This process allows users to perceive certain preferences, even if actual foods and drinks are not involved.
Ohio State Professor and research co-author Jinhua Li noted that chemical dimensions are still “relatively underestimated” in virtual and augmented reality.
“That’s a gap that needs to be filled, and we developed it with this,” Li said in a statement.
Human subjects were able to distinguish taste intensity
The researchers tested the new device with 10 volunteers and received the results. Positively, subjects were able to distinguish the intensity of different sour taste profiles with an accuracy of approximately 70%. The test was inconclusive when researchers asked participants to distinguish between flavors intended to represent cake, fried eggs, coffee and fish soup. However, that inconsistency is not necessarily due to poor device performance. Even in the physical world, taste is inherently subjective. Factors such as smells, memories, and visual cues can affect how you perceive food. Two may experience the taste of the same meal slightly differently.
“Taste and smell have a lot to do with human emotions and memory,” added Lee. “So sensors need to learn to capture, control and store all that information.”
Yizhen Jia, a doctoral student at Ohio State University and co-first author of the paper, Popular science The testing process brought about unexpected laboratory moments. Some volunteers were surprised to taste the liquid that appeared to resemble coffee from devices that didn’t look like regular coffee makers. Jia herself said at one point she had given a higher dose of citric acid in one experiment than expected and realized she needed to dial down immediately. It was a constant process of trial and error for every period to add the right amount of chemicals.
Interestingly, this is not the first attempt to bring taste to VR. Last year, researchers at Hong Kong City University We developed a device like a handheld lollipop It is designed to help people taste certain flavors in virtual reality settings. The device contained chemicals that could produce nine different flavors. When voltages are applied to gel-like surfaces, the chemical moves upwards as a liquid, mixing with the user’s saliva, creating a facsimile of the intended virtual taste experience. Details about the device have been released In the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
It has a long and troublesome history of adding a sense to the media.
Bringing taste to VR may be new, but the practice of trying to add more sense to media dates dates back almost a century ago. Several theatres in the 1930s experiment The entire movie releases fragrance into the air. A Swiss advertising executive named Hans Laube has imitated a new system called the “new system.”Smell o-visionusing a complex system of pipes in cinemas to release scents during specific cue points of performance. Recently, Japanese researchers have designed their home televisions and created a “Smelling screen“It used gel pellets to send a stream of scented steam towards the viewer. And last month, Sony Teased the future system They are working on a place where users can step into a cube-like platform surrounded by LED screens. Our last. In addition to the 360-degree visual experience, Sony said players can also smell aspects of the environment.
E-Taste researchers believe that their devices also have applications that go beyond video games. In theory, this technology could virtually allow taste tests before one day ordering users. Healthcare professionals may use this device to remotely assess whether a patient has lost certain aspects of taste. This could be an early indicator of the disease. Additionally, the device may serve as aid in the reintroduction of taste sensations for people with certain neurological disorders or illnesses that impair the ability to taste food.
“This concept is here, and it’s a good first step to becoming a small part of the metaverse,” Li said.
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