Virtual reality, with his complete way, can move the user to long experiences. With the headphone, anyone daily can get a brief overview of what is like surgery, Louvre Museum tourOr Even arresting. One thing that VR cannot do is simulating lunch experience. But this may change thanks to a new “biological” biological interface called “E-Tast”.
Ohio State University researchers detailed how their new devices work this week in magazine Science progress. They created a small electromagnetic pump connected to a liquid canal of chemicals that, when mixed in the right proportions, can converge the taste of coffee, lemon, cakes and other food and drinks. Then this chemical liquid is pushed newly made across a gel. Users finally test the taste as a liquid sitting in their mouth. Researchers can then remotely control the severity of the gel. Although a preliminary set of human test topics is struggling to discriminate accurately between different taste profiles, the study indicates that the experience of a VR steak in the future may not be as far as it seems.
The researchers analyzed the flavor at the molecular level
The electronic taste consists of three distinct stages. The first stage uses a set of sensors to analyze food or drinks and identify common molecules such as glucose and glutamate, which contribute to their unique taste. Various groups of these chemicals are compatible with the five basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and Umami. Once the sample is analyzed, the system codes the data and transmits it wirelessly to the T-TOASTE device. Researchers do not need to be in the same room or even the same condition to send this flavor data. In fact, the details of the paper how a California researcher immersed a sensor patch in a cup of lemon juice and then sent the corresponding “digital instructions” to a colleague running the device in Ohio.
The second stage of the operation focuses on the repetition of the flavor of the initial sample. The small electromagnetic pump contains multiple liquid rooms filled with chemicals that are compatible with different taste sensations. These chemicals are combined in the “mixing zone” in dimensions dictated by the estimated molecules in the food or the drink that they are trying to imitate. Once the required flavor profile is achieved, researchers can adjust the timing of pump cycles to increase or reduce the total density of flavor. Then the final mixture is converted into a gel. The water flows across the gel carrying tastes in the ultimate user’s mouth. (They do not swallow chemical fabrication). This process allows the user to realize the specific tastes, although there is no actual food or drink.
Professor of Ohio and co -author Jenwa Li indicated that the chemical dimensions are still a “relatively incomplete actress” in the virtual and augmented reality.
“It is a gap that must be filled and we have developed this,” he told me in a statement.
Human test topics were able to distinguish between the severity of taste
The researchers tested their new device on 10 volunteers and obtained mixed results. On the positive side, the test topics were able to distinguish between the intensity of the different sour taste file with approximately 70 percent. The tests were less harsh, although researchers asked the participants to distinguish between flavors aimed at representing cakes, fried eggs, coffee and fish soup. This contradiction is not necessarily due to the poor performance of the device. Even in the material world, the taste is personal by its nature. Factors such as smell, memory and visual signals can affect how we realize food. Two people may face the taste of the same meal slightly differently.
“Taste and smell is very related to human emotion and memory,” he added. “Therefore, our sensor must learn to capture, control and store all this information.”
Yazan Jia, a participant in a doctorate at Ohio State University, said, Popular science The test process led to some unexpected laboratory moments. Some volunteers were surprised by the taste of the liquid that appears to be like coffee that comes out of a device that does not resemble a regular coffee maker. Jia himself said that at one time he gave himself a higher dose of citric acid in one experience than expected and quickly realized that they needed to request it down. Discover the appropriate amount of chemicals that must be added, and as the period is a constant process of experience and error.
Interestingly, this is not the first attempt to bring taste feelings to VR. Last year, researchers from the University of Hong Kong University I developed a lollipop -like device Designed to help people taste some flavors in virtual reality settings. This device contains chemicals capable of producing nine different flavors. When the voltage is applied to its gel -like surface, the chemicals will travel to the top as liquid and mix with the user saliva, creating a fax of the default taste experience. Details were published about this device In the magazine The facts of the National Academy of Sciences.
There is a long and chaotic history to add the senses to the media
Bringing taste to virtual reality may be new, but the practice of trying to add more senses to the media is due to nearly a century. In the thirties of the twentieth century, many theaters I tried With the launch of the fragrance in the air through movies. A Swiss executive official named Hans Lobby and then engraved a new system called “”Archery“Who used a complex system of tubes in a movie theater to issue a scented smell during some points of performance. Recently, researchers from Japan designed a TV at home calling”Scent“That used a gel” to send the smell of scents that evaporates towards viewers. And only last month, Sony Disturb They are working on where users can walk on a cube -like platform surrounded by LED screens to play famous PlayStation games like Another of us. In addition to a 360 -degree visual experience, Sony said the players will also be able to smell the sides of their environment.
Researchers at E-Toaste believe that their devices can also have applications that exceed video games. In theory, technology can one day allow users to test the elements before their request. Medical professionals may also use the device to assess whether patients have lost certain aspects of taste, which may be an early indication of the disease. In addition, the device can serve as help in re -introducing taste sensations to individuals with certain neurological disorders or diseases, such as long Covid, which weakened their ability to taste food.
“This concept is here, and it is a good first step towards becoming a small part of metaverse.”
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