The tech industry has been trying its damnedest to make VR a thing. They’ve gotten closer than ever before but it still feels like we’re still a few innovations and technological leaps away from virtual reality devices becoming as ingrained in our society as VR companies seem to want them to be. But maybe a lollipop-like device that lets you taste flavors in virtual reality is a step in that direction. Or maybe it’s just some silly clown device that no one will ever take seriously. Only time will tell.
Some researchers from City University of Hong Kong have developed a handheld device that kind of looks like a disposable vape. It allows the user to taste flavors that they are experiencing in virtual reality, adding a whole new sense to the experience. The device transmits taste sensations through a process called iontophoresis, a method involving the flow of ions through hydrogels to deliver flavor chemicals to the tongue.
Previous theories on how to deliver an ever-changing array and multitude of flavors to people in virtual reality involved the bulk storage of flavoring chemicals that can be applied directly onto the tongue. It was all very impractical. This team of researchers from Hong Kong claims to have found a way to deliver flavor by way of electrical stimulation and a small amount of flavored hydrogels. The lollipop-like device sends electrical signals to the tongue and then varies those signal’s frequency, direction, and intensity to simulate the five basic flavors—bitter, sour, sweet, salty, and umami.
Of course, it’s not straight-up electrocuting your tongue. The electrical stimulation is extremely low-level. The device contains nine taste-generating channels filled with flavored hydrogels that are activated by the electric stimulation. At the moment, the only flavors available in the device are sugar, salt, citric acid, cherry, passionfruit, green tea, milk, durian, and grapefruit. The gels are stimulated by electric current which causes the chemicals to rise to the surface of the device which makes contact with the saliva on your tongue to produce its flavor.
The creators of the device have a whole bunch of potential applications in mind for their VR lollipop. But one that came to mind as I was writing this was being able to sample foods in virtual reality without having to buy them first. How many times have you bought some weird new experimental food oddity from the grocery store only to despise it upon your first bite, and now you’re stuck with a whole box or bag of this trash? What if you never had to buy it, to begin with, because you know it sucked before you even brought it home? That’s a dream application for me.
In reality, a hacker will probably figure out a way to make it taste like their butt and will trick thousands of us into tasting it.
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The post This ‘Lollipop’ Device Lets You Taste Flavors in Virtual Reality appeared first on VICE.
