Close Menu
Best in TechnologyBest in Technology
  • News
  • Phones
  • Laptops
  • Gadgets
  • Gaming
  • AI
  • Tips
  • More
    • Web Stories
    • Global
    • Press Release

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest tech news and updates directly to your inbox.

What's On

Itel City 100 – Price in India, Specifications (7th July 2025)

7 July 2025

Itel City 100 Launched in India With 5,200mAh Battery, IP64 Rating: Price, Specifications

7 July 2025

Lava Blaze AMOLED 5G Listed Online With MediaTek Dimensity 6300 SoC, 5,000mAh Battery

7 July 2025
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Just In
  • Itel City 100 – Price in India, Specifications (7th July 2025)
  • Itel City 100 Launched in India With 5,200mAh Battery, IP64 Rating: Price, Specifications
  • Lava Blaze AMOLED 5G Listed Online With MediaTek Dimensity 6300 SoC, 5,000mAh Battery
  • How to Upgrade to BSNL 4G/ 5G SIM Card Online: A Step-by-Step Guide
  • How to Use Voice Typing on Your Phone
  • How the Binding of Two Brain Molecules Creates Memories That Last a Lifetime
  • Meteorologists Say the National Weather Service Did Its Job in Texas
  • The 55 Best Outdoor Deals From the REI 4th of July Sale
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest Vimeo
Best in TechnologyBest in Technology
  • News
  • Phones
  • Laptops
  • Gadgets
  • Gaming
  • AI
  • Tips
  • More
    • Web Stories
    • Global
    • Press Release
Subscribe
Best in TechnologyBest in Technology
Home » Seeing food in VR games? This sensor will put the real taste in your mouth
News

Seeing food in VR games? This sensor will put the real taste in your mouth

News RoomBy News Room2 March 20255 Mins Read
Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Reddit Telegram Email
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

Over the past few years, researchers have tried to make virtual reality (VR) experiences even more immersive and personal. For example, back in 2022, the experts over at Stockholm University created a machine called olfactometer, which let users smell what they were seeing in a game while wearing a VR headset.

But smell is only half the picture. What if you could actually deliver a real taste on the tongue? A team from the Ohio State University have created a sensing system called e-Taste that can replicate the taste of a real food items and drinks, and deliver it straight to another person’s tongue living hundreds of miles away.

The e-Taste consists of two components — a taster and a receiver. The sensor contains a special patch that can detect the fundamental molecules responsible for the five varieties of taste viz. bitter, salty, sour, sweet, and umami. As part of their research, the team focused on detecting glucose and glutamate on the sensor patch.

How it works?

During the tests, a California-based person sipping lemonade dipped the taster patch inside the beverage. The sensor patch detected the concentration of target chemicals in the lemonade, and transmitted that electrochemical data to the receiver kit sitting in an Ohio lab.

The receiver part includes a patch that rests on the tongue and a pump connected to a liquid channel of solutions. When stimulated electrically, the liquid passes through a gel-based system onto a person’s tongue, providing a realistic sense of tasting food.

The specific taste and its intensity can be adjusted by changing the volume of fluid discharged by the pump. During the human trials, the participants wearing the receiver kit were able to identify different levels of sourness with a 70% accuracy.

“Beyond helping to build a better and more dynamic gaming experience, the study notes that the work could be useful in promoting accessibility and inclusivity in virtual spaces for individuals with disabilities, like those with traumatic brain injuries or Long Covid, which brought gustatory loss to mainstream attention,” says the team.

It could also help with identification and tasting of potential food sources in harsh conditions, online shopping, remote education, quality monitoring for freshness and consistency by robotic machines and remote analysis of taste perception by doctors.

The team tested e-Taste over two network protocols. The short-range implementation covered a distance of 200 meters, while the long-range design relies on an internet connection with no limit on the distance involved.

The possibilities for VR, and beyond

“This concept is here and it is a good first step to becoming a small part of the metaverse,” says Jinghua Li, co-author of the paper and faculty member at the institution.

This won’t be the first attempt of its kind to augment the VR experience with a sense of smell or taste. Two years ago, OVR revealed the ION 3 wearable kit for XR hardware that can produce hundreds of scents using a system of cartridges.

The folks over at City University of Hong Kong and Beihang University in China developed a patch-based wearable sensor that relies on miniaturized odor generators using perfumed wax.

The VR kit can recognize visuals and produce the corresponding scent in roughly two seconds. But when it comes to the perception of taste, the sense of smell (or olfaction) plays an equally important role.

The industry has already figured out how to deliver smell as part of AR and VR experiences. The e-Taste system demonstrates that remotely triggering realistic taste on the tongue is also possible.

In addition to lemonade, the team also tested the human participants with food grade chemicals that represent the taste of cake, fried egg, coffee, and fish soup. This mixed-taste analysis was conducted using a mixed-channel e-Taste system called the digital cup.

As far as latency goes, the short-range format measured at 0.3 second, while the figures for long-range information transfer stood at 1.4 seconds. The sensor response time, on the other hand, was roughly ten seconds.

The road to a realistic metaverse

“The gustatory interface will pave the way for a new era of AR/VR systems with chemical components by allowing users not only to visualize and hear virtual environments but also to taste them,” says the research paper.

The team is now focused on miniaturizing the e-Taste sensing kit. Moreover, they are also experimenting with a non-gel solution for delivering the taste chemicals. One of those ideas involves using separate pouches of water and taste fluid, and accordingly varying the concentration.

Water solves another crucial problem: residual chemicals in the channel connected to the tongue. After each session, a water flow would internally clean the pipe and reduce chances of any taste contamination for future sessions.

Learnings from the e-Taste system can be used to develop VR gaming systems that can help users get an immersive sensation combining real taste and smell of what they’re seeing in a virtual world.

For now, what we have is an experimentally-validated system that it’s possible to fold taste into the virtual experiences. What remains is the miniaturization of the whole system and standardizing the electrochemical data representing various food items and beverages.

Beyond the domain of VR, and moving on to your humble computing station, there’s another solution that is about to launch in the market. Asus recently introduced a mouse that comes with a refillable pouch for aromatic oils. It can diffuse nice scents in the air while adding some zen to the whole work environment.











Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Previous ArticleWhere to find iron in Monster Hunter Wilds
Next Article Conan O’Brien is hosting the Oscars: what to expect and how we think he’ll do

Related Articles

News

How to Use Voice Typing on Your Phone

6 July 2025
News

How the Binding of Two Brain Molecules Creates Memories That Last a Lifetime

6 July 2025
News

Meteorologists Say the National Weather Service Did Its Job in Texas

5 July 2025
News

The 55 Best Outdoor Deals From the REI 4th of July Sale

5 July 2025
News

Security News This Week: Android May Soon Warn You About Fake Cell Towers

5 July 2025
News

Everything You Can Do in the Photoshop Mobile App

5 July 2025
Demo
Top Articles

ChatGPT o1 vs. o1-mini vs. 4o: Which should you use?

15 December 2024101 Views

Costco partners with Electric Era to bring back EV charging in the U.S.

28 October 202495 Views

Oppo Reno 14, Reno 14 Pro India Launch Timeline and Colourways Leaked

27 May 202582 Views

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest tech news and updates directly to your inbox.

Latest News
News

How the Binding of Two Brain Molecules Creates Memories That Last a Lifetime

News Room6 July 2025
News

Meteorologists Say the National Weather Service Did Its Job in Texas

News Room5 July 2025
News

The 55 Best Outdoor Deals From the REI 4th of July Sale

News Room5 July 2025
Most Popular

The Spectacular Burnout of a Solar Panel Salesman

13 January 2025124 Views

ChatGPT o1 vs. o1-mini vs. 4o: Which should you use?

15 December 2024101 Views

Costco partners with Electric Era to bring back EV charging in the U.S.

28 October 202495 Views
Our Picks

How to Upgrade to BSNL 4G/ 5G SIM Card Online: A Step-by-Step Guide

7 July 2025

How to Use Voice Typing on Your Phone

6 July 2025

How the Binding of Two Brain Molecules Creates Memories That Last a Lifetime

6 July 2025

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest tech news and updates directly to your inbox.

Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
© 2025 Best in Technology. All Rights Reserved.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.