Researchers from the City University of Hong Kong have built a lollipop-shaped device that can simulate the sense of taste in virtual reality (VR) environments.
The VR mouthpiece, dubbed as a "portable lollipop-shaped gustation interface," can deliver different flavors by stimulating a user’s taste buds.
“Alongside visual, auditory, haptic, and olfactory sensations, taste significantly influences both the physiological and psychological aspects of human experience, however, the research in the development of taste-generating technologies in VR applications is still in its infancy,” the researchers wrote of technology in a study.
They further added, “We report a set of intelligent and portable lollipop-shaped taste interfacing systems covering from two to nine different taste options for establishing an adjustable taste platform in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) environments.”
The lollipop-shaped device features nine different flavor including sugar, salt, citric acid, cherry, passion fruit, green tea, milk, durian and grapefruit, which can be adjusted in intensity by altering the voltage to the gel pockets.
The study, titled “Miniaturised, portable gustation interfaces for VR/AR/MR”, was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal this week.
