cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Let's discuss adding another sense to VR

mta
Honored Guest
Touch, Taste, Smell

Or any of the other 10 or so that someone made up recently.

Here's my idea that I just stole off this guy - touch.

http://vimeo.com/79179138

I think this could be modified to work in some primitive way with the rift. Obviously I'm not talking about a whole room like a holodeck, because that would be fucking dangerous - but maybe some games that use blocks like VR Tetris
16 REPLIES 16

Gizmotweak
Explorer
as soon as we add odorama...at least 10 virtual fart simulators for vr will appear...I have no doubt...
This space available for advertising.

Stankiem
Honored Guest
I've thought about this so many times.. I could see application for advanced facilities, probably not for general home use. Say you have a device such as the Omni. While I doubt the Omni is immersive enough as is, the technology will probably improve slightly in the coming years. You connect a PADDED flexible yet somewhat rigid matrix / mesh of material all surrounding the user to actuators which move the material in and out around the user depending on where obstacles are around him.

So if there is a wall to your right the actuactors would move the material near you to the right where the wall should be. If there is a tree ahead the actuators would move to form a semi circle ahead of you. You could literally bump into these obstacles if not careful and reach out and touch them, have them impede a sword / gun maneuver etc.. etc... There are probably many other uses, maybe some that are actually even practical 😃

There would, of course, be safety measures such as the padding on the material, give to the actuators so that they cannot crush someone who has accidentally fallen in between two walls or something lol, also a minimum distance from the center of the platform so that they cannot reach out and punch the player ever.

/mad inventor speech completed

mta
Honored Guest
Given the potential complexity I think this would need start from small beginnings.

Sitting down at your computer it's conceivable that something like that block grid could create a controller of any shape and size, it could even create a keyboard. There needs to be a practical application.

kevinw729
Honored Visionary
We have been doing olfactory in the 4D experience theater business for years'.

There is a great article about the various "experiential" tech in use:

http://www.dna-association.com/the-return-of-smell-o-vision-the-advent-of-4d-cinema-and-the-brave-ne...

Much of this will obviously migrate to VR.
https://vrawards.aixr.org/ "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Home-Immersive-Entertainment-Frontier/dp/1472426959

Twitchmonkey
Explorer
I think the sense of smell is something that we won't really realize we were missing until we have it. It certainly has a place in VR, but I wonder how it would actually be achieved. The distribution of the aromatic elements doesn't seem to be too difficult, it could be handled via an aerosol placed close enough to the player that could be programmed to spray at cerain intervals or during specific scripted moments. The issues becomes how many different aromatic compounds are needed to generate a sufficiently diverse set of smells, and how the user could acquire and restock them. Maybe a tech company needs to team up with a company like the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (http://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/) to generate a set of essential smells that could be used for a wide enough set of scenarios to make the technology compelling enough to justify the purchase, but not so diverse as you require a hundred different canisters be refilled on a regular basis.

Sharpfish
Heroic Explorer
"Gizmotweak" wrote:
as soon as we add odorama...at least 10 virtual fart simulators for vr will appear...I have no doubt...


and through the process of natural selection, the idiots who actually buy such software will do us all a favour and gas themselves (virtually).
EX DK2/VIVE/PSVR/CV1/Q2/PSVR2 | Currently Quest Pro (PCVR) | VR developer
RTX 3080 FE / 12900k / Windows 11 Pro

Sharpfish
Heroic Explorer
Temperature simulation would be good, but not to extremes of course. Mildly colder, mildly warmer to suggest to the body that the vision ties in with reality a little deeper. It's not the most exciting or top of my list but it seems pretty easy to do.
EX DK2/VIVE/PSVR/CV1/Q2/PSVR2 | Currently Quest Pro (PCVR) | VR developer
RTX 3080 FE / 12900k / Windows 11 Pro

linuxopVR
Honored Guest
I'd like to look at the nuances of sense. For example the sensation of balance, not just the psychological effect, but the physical force of gravity on the body. Touch and feel, with textures, temperature variations and internal functions like hunger, muscle fatigue, and the likes.

aiwaldmeister
Honored Guest
"mta" wrote:
Touch, Taste, Smell


'Touch' aka haptics is obviously the next big thing to achieve.

'Smell' might follow up next, but far less important. It also might be very disturbing and uncomfortable in some situations.

'Taste' is already achieved. For example: If you buy some strawberry-icecream i bet that for most brands the strawberrys in it are pretty 'virtual' 😉