The idea of ​​"applying chemicals to the skin" to feel the VR world more realistically

 

VR, Metaverse, and reality.

There is a limit to making the VR world more realistic with only sight and hearing. In reality, it smells and feels. Even if you don't touch things, you may feel them on your skin. Therefore, the idea came up to reproduce what is happening in that world more realistically by actually applying chemicals to the skin.

I am studying the Human-Computer Integration Laboratory at the University of Chicago. We use technology to utilize haptic technology that calls on the senses with physical stimuli. Speaking of haptics, vibrations using internal motors such as smartphones and pseudo-clicks on trackpads are familiar examples. As the game controller vibrates in time with the game, the chairs in the cinema sway in time with the story, allowing users to not only see the world over there but also experience it in a simulated manner. The idea of ​​the University of Chicago, Chemical Haptics, took this a step further.

The team has developed a wearable band with chemicals inside. You can attach it to any part of your hands, feet, face, or skin. A silicone patch and a small pump are installed inside the wearable band, and from here, five chemicals are applied to the skin according to the content of the game to give a physical sensation. The five substances tested were menthol, capsaicin, lidocaine, sanshool, and cinnamaldehyde. Of course, the amount is safe. Menthol cools the skin in snowy scenes and capsaicin in apt scenes. Lidocaine, which is used for local anesthesia, reproduces numbness, sanshool reproduces numbness, and cinnamaldehyde reproduces a tingling sensation.

Do you want to feel the world over there even if you apply it to your skin? I'm still a little scared now. But, of course, it's definitely a full-body suit for VR for tracking movement and applying substances ... The type to wear naked ...

If you ever want to know about similar things, check out the Facebook page Maga AI