In 2012, IBM proposed a concept called "cognitive computing", which believes that computers can simulate people's five senses, help people complete inconvenient tasks, and better communicate with people.
Reality is moving in the direction IBM predicts, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching...... A variety of virtual five-sense technology products have appeared in turn, and today we will use this article to see the development of these technology products.
Game clothes that allow you to experience the touch of "being shot"
From open world to FPS shooters, game developers want to attract players through a more immersive game experience, but the content that a display can carry is limited after all, and the immersion brought by vision alone is not very strong, and OWO Game is pre-selling game clothes to propose a new solution - virtual touch.
▲Image from: OWO
According to the information released by OWO, this gaming dress is made of breathable fabric and elastic cable, etc., and there are a total of 10 vibration sensors on the clothes, which divide the entire clothes into 10 vibration zones, and with the conductive gel, the clothes can simulate the touch.
Of course, the premise of experiencing these touches is to wear the garment close to the body, the clothes must fit the skin to convey the touch, OWO Game offers a variety of algorithms that can simulate 30 different sensations.
▲ Experience the feeling of being hit by a bullet. Image credit: OWO
For example, being hit by a bullet through the abdomen and leaving the body, experiencing the feeling of intestinal bleeding, in addition to the rain falling on the body, the wind blowing, hugging and other touch, combined with the game content, visual, auditory, plus touch, the sense of reality will be greatly improved.
It's just that the feel of shooting may be too real, not every player likes it, if you experience knife slashing in a more difficult game like "Only Wolf: Shadow Death Twice", I am afraid that more people will abandon the game.
Put on gloves and touch non-existent apples
With the hot sale of Oculus Quest 2, the threshold of VR headsets has been further lowered, and ordinary people have the opportunity to access VR games, and recently bHaptics, which has both VR game developers and haptic technology manufacturers, has released a VR haptic feedback glove TactGlove.
TactGlove doesn't look futuristic, or even similar to our common cold gloves, but it's actually equipped with 10 linear resonant actuators inside to provide fine haptic feedback.
At present, TactGlove has supported several VR games, such as "Unplugged: Air Guitar", "Hand Physics Lab", from the bHaptics display of the screen, with the VR headset, players can touch the virtual apple, draw on the finger, and even play with the non-existent virtual guitar.
The TactGlove glove's haptic feedback makes virtual VR games more realistic, and more importantly, developers can customize the content for the game according to bHaptics' developer suite, and perhaps more and more interesting VR games will adapt this accessory later.
In terms of price, the TactGlove as an accessory is not cheap, starting at $299, almost equivalent to the price of an Oculus Quest 2, which raises the threshold for VR games.
Customize scent synths with hundreds of flavors
Whether it's a novel or a movie, Perfume is a shocking work, it rarely uses the sense of smell to create a fantasy story, people are crazy because of perfume, and a drop of perfume is enough to make people in a square hug each other.
▲ A drop of perfume, causing people to go crazy Picture from: "Perfume"
The principle that smell can evoke people's emotions has been applied by countless products, and technology companies naturally will not give up, Aromajoin launched a scent synthesizer called Aroma Shooter, which can synthesize 100 flavors of chestnut, grapefruit and orange.
This device can compete with mainstream computing devices on the market, including iPhone, Android, Windows, and even VR headsets, and people can customize the odor range and intensity, and switch the smell in 0.1 seconds.
▲ Open the iPad, and the orange flavor will come out
It does sound interesting, but similar products are mostly used in the industrial field of perfume research and development, and consumer products are not common, and the film or performance industry that is considered the most likely to succeed is no exception.
Smellovision tried to release gas from the audience's stools during the 1933 New York World's Fair, trying to mobilize the audience's emotions and push the atmosphere to a climax, but it was unsuccessful.
The connection between smell and emotion has still not been fully revealed, and the visual and auditory stimuli for the audience are significantly stronger than the sense of smell, and naturally not many people have tried to apply olfactory technology to the film field.
Cocktails that don't get drunk
The wine, which is good and easy to get drunk, is now called Vocktail (Virtual Cocktail), which is the result of research by Yan Liangkun, a researcher at the National University of Singapore, and his team.
▲ Image from: utecenter
It does look like Vocktail is a product of the cyberpunk world, with ever-changing RGB lights and even the electronic components in the cup.
According to reports, Vocktail is actually filled with water, relying on the compound experience of smell and taste to "deceive", making people mistakenly think that this is a cocktail. There are 3 odor cartridges and a miniature air pump in the base of the cup, which emit a variety of aromas such as lemon through the air port of the cup.
The electrophoretic pulse at the edge of the cup will emit a pulse sprint to stimulate the taste buds, 180 microampere strength can simulate the sour taste, and 40 microampere is salty, with a very strong RGB LED light, with the use of mobile phones can also modulate a variety of "taste", let people really think that this is a pure cocktail.
People drink water, naturally they will not get drunk, it is still practical for people who quit drinking or want to taste new cocktails, and even have virtual reality bars to drink as the preferred drink, with VR headsets, drink a glass of wine in the virtual world.
▲ Image courtesy of utecenter
From home, you can visit exhibitions all over the world
Nowadays, immersive exhibitions are not uncommon, and they truly integrate the five senses with experience to create a virtual world out of thin air, and the experiential entertainment company Illuminarium Experiences is one of the leaders.
Last July Illuminarium Experiences launched WILD: A Safari Experience, an immersive entertainment show themed around African wildlife. The entire experience takes place in a large space of 30,000 feet.
▲ Image from: Illuminarium
People are surrounded by screens that are more than 100 meters long and wide and up to 10 meters high, and 46 projectors project 8K videos that are custom-shot, creating a shocking, realistic Africa.
African lions run extremely fast in front of you, chasing antelopes and zebras, when the space audio system of the exhibition hall will play a role, and the footsteps and tearing wind generated by the rapid running will be like a real wild predation.
When you walk, the ground will leave footprints like real grass and puddles, and the antelope can feel the vibration when it passes, and the ground's haptic system and lidar sensor will automatically determine your position, so that animals and plants can interact with you, and when you are close to the trees, the birds in the trees will fly away.
In terms of smell, various gases are injected into the exhibition space, dry grass, trees, dry dust, and various flavors appear in turn, and the visual, auditory, tactile, and olfactory senses are combined to create this "real" immersive experience project.
summary
What is the hottest technology concept in 2021, the metaverse is undoubtedly one of the answers, Facebook changed its name to Meta, companies and products with this concept have appeared in a bunch, and even products and companies with various basic visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and taste five senses have also caught fire, as if the virtual world depicted in the metacosm is getting closer and closer to us.
▲ Meta virtual haptic gloves
The case mentioned above has actually given the answer, the metaverse is still some distance from ordinary consumers, in addition to vision and hearing, there are not many popular five senses consumer technology products at this stage. Even meta's haptic gloves don't look like a perfect device, with sensors covered and cables wrapped around it, like an engineering machine.
But this does not mean that scientific and technological products based on the five senses are meaningless, scientific and technological exploration is always groping, ordinary people can not use but may have a miraculous effect in the industrial field.
IBM has launched an "electronic tongue", simulating the taste buds of the human body, detecting liquid components, in 1 minute can analyze the liquid components, and the accuracy rate is more than 90%, in addition to the test of poison, it can also be used for food detection, counterfeit drug detection, and even in the field of medical testing, such as urine test blood test. Tasks that are inconvenient for humans to complete can be done by this electronic tongue.
The metacosm is still some distance away from us, but it doesn't get in the way of its puzzle, and products like the electronic tongue glow.