VR taste interface broadcasts the dinner
A VR interface from Ohio can create a digitally transmitted taste in the mouth. e-Taste also analyses and digitizes the taste of food.
The flavor interface consists of two components: The flavors can be seen from the outside, which a compact pump mixes and directs to the tongue. This is also where the flat sensor field is located.
(Image: Ohio State University)
Using the VR interface e-Taste, test subjects at Ohio State University have already virtually taken part in a meal that was eaten in California. Until now, such a scenario was more the stuff of science fiction stories. The device works both ways: It includes a taste sensor that detects molecules representing the five basic tastes of sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. This should enable the sensor to analyse the taste that someone has on their tongue and digitize it in order to pass it on to another e-button device.
To create a taste on the tongue itself, a small pump delivers a mix of glucose (sweet), citric acid (sour), table salt (salty), magnesium chloride (bitter) and glutamate (umami) into the mouth via a narrow channel. By combining the flavors, the interface controls the stimulation of the taste buds and the intensity of the taste sensation through the length of the output.
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"In VR and AR, taste and smell have been neglected so far," writes Jinghua Li from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Ohio State University on the project page. E-Taste now provides users with at least a taste impression. In experiments, for example, volunteers were able to distinguish between different shades of sour with 70 percent certainty. In the virtual test meal, participants were able to distinguish between lemonade, cake, fried egg, fish soup and coffee with certainty.
In the future, the developers want to further reduce the size of their VR taste interface and make an even wider range of flavors accessible with additional chemical flavorings.
(agr)
