Designed to enhance virtual reality, face masks can emit different scents to make the simulation more immersive. According to its creators, it can also be used to mimic the smell of an absent loved one during a virtual meeting.
Sight, hearing, and touch are all processed by virtual reality systems, but smell plays an important role in everyday life and memory formation and recall, but usually not.
Xinge Yu of the City University of Hong Kong said early odor generators were large and “clumsy” devices that leaked odors over a wide area and were slow to switch from odor to odor.
His team created two devices that can release odors on demand. One is a flexible patch about five centimeters long attached to the upper lip, each containing two cells capable of releasing one scent. It is a face mask with a odor that can also be combined to create other scents.
Each device is controlled by a tiny chip that communicates wirelessly via Bluetooth with a computer to coordinate the release of odors when the wearer approaches an odorous object in VR.
The scent is created by a liquid perfume added to a container of paraffin. If smell is desired, heat the cell to 50°C (122°F) with a small radiator. Both devices are close to the nose so the wearer can sense the scent within 1.5 seconds of switching on.
In experiments with face masks, 11 volunteers were able to detect different odors, including mint, jasmine, lavender, and pineapple, with an average success rate of 93%.
According to Yu, the system could not only make virtual reality more compelling, but could also be used to bring people in different locations closer together.
“By wearing the olfactory system, children could smell absent family members, and separate couples could sense each other by sniffing,” he says. On the face of it, VR allowed users to experience different outdoor environments with different natural smells at home, and we think bad odors are just as easy to use as pleasant scents.”
topic:
