by If your colleague has torn her to tears with pictures of her lunch, a new device could make her life worse.
Scientists have developed a device to reproduce the flavors of food and drinks so that they can be shared from a distance in seconds – but they have not yet cracked.
They say that the device that they referred to as the “E key” could be used to improve virtual reality and expand reality systems and increase immersive experience. It could also prove to be useful for biomedical research, or even for “virtual food adventures”.
“The potential applications include immersion games, online shopping, distance training, weight management, sensory tests, physical rehabilitation and others,” the researchers write.
However, the team finds that the system needs to be developed further, not least because there are taste sensations that the device cannot reproduce, such as: B. sharpness and faft.
While it is now possible, the parts of pictures, noises and even physical sensations have exchanged ideas with others from a distance, and sharing smells or flavors has proven to be more difficult.
Despite the previous attempts by some researchers, the team behind the new study found that there are numerous hurdles, not least that the tongue -tongue causes electronic or with heat only a few flavors. The use of chemicals can have problems for reliability. And the arrangement of taste buds on the tongue means that it is necessary to address certain areas in order to create certain sensations.
In the journal Science Advances, the scientists based in the United States report on how their e-button device has two key components. The first is a detection platform – or an “electronic tongue” – that collects data on the concentration of five different taste chemicals in a liquid sample of a food or a drink and sends the information wirelessly to the second component. This device uses small electromagnetic pumps to press liquids through a gel layer with five edible taste chemicals that enable their delivery to a socket in the mouth of a recipient.
The five taste chemicals that can be mixed before the delivery correspond to those that have been demonstrated in the original object of consumption: glucose that creates a sweet feeling; Citric acid that creates an acidic taste; Sodium chloride that creates a salty taste; Magnesium chloride, a bitter taste; And glutamate, which causes the hearty taste that is known as Umami.
The team adds that the system also enables the provision of flavors in certain regions of the tongue – something they say that they could be used to examine the perception of human taste.
“People will get something like a straw in their mouths and, if necessary, place it in certain places,” said Yizhen Jia, co-author of the study from Ohio State University.
The team then carried out a number of tests. Among them were asked 10 volunteers to try various acid intensities in the liquids generated by the system, whereby the results showed that they could do this with a total accuracy rate of 70%.
In another test, six volunteers were asked to try different combinations of liquids that contain the aroma chemicals, with the combinations that are supposed to represent five different edible objects – lemonade, cake, fried egg, coffee and fish soup. They were then asked to try a liquid generated by the system and select the food from which they believed that they represented them. Overall, you have completed the task with an accuracy rate of almost 87% – although the sharpness is not yet cracked.
Marianna Obrist, professor of multi -sensory interfaces at the University of College London, who was not involved in the work, welcomed the study.
“Taste stimulation is a particularly challenging area, but the authors seem to present a convincing integration of taste sensations to enrich digital experiences,” she said.
