Imagine if you could use your sense of smell as you make your way around virtual reality (VR). Though users have been able to see, hear, and even feel (a bit) using their headsets, the ability to smell has not been available.
That’s not strictly accurate. You could always smell your surroundings but you couldn’t detect anything specific to VR space unless that’s what your home happens to smell like. Tech experts seem to be getting closer to making it possible to smell flowers and sewage (on purpose), among other things, in VR space.
Researchers from the City University of Hong Kong and Beihang University recently unveiled details about two wearable devices that can generate 30 different scents.
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The devices contain scented wax which heats up in 1.44 seconds and then releases a scent. These include a variety of smells including ginger, rosemary, pancake, pineapple, and mojito. On the foul side is a sewage-like durian smell, for when you’re wading through sewers on your way to the objective.
Smelling flowers in VR
One of the devices, which looks like two chips attached to a piece of tape, can be placed directly under a user’s nose. The other is a mask-looking device that covers the nose under the VR glasses. The devices aren’t sexy and clearly show that they are still in the search phase.
However, they mark a significant step in finding a way to introduce smell to VR. Tech companies are on a mission to find a way to add smell while keeping the VR device comfortable, safe, and attractive to look at. Because that last point really counts for something.
Source: The Verge