Licking this "lollipop" will let you taste virtual flavors | Hacker News Reader

Licking this "lollipop" will let you taste virtual flavors

arstechnica.com

There's no virtual flavor here.

>There were nine taste-generating channels filled with flavored hydrogels. The gels were made out of agarose mixed with a bit of mineral water and specific flavor essences: sugar, salt, citric acid, cherry, milk, green tea, passion fruit, durian, and grapefruit.

Don't get me wrong, the miniturization and delivery is cool, but nothing virtual here.

I mean.. what did you expect? Did you think that they wired electrodes into someone's brain and simulated taste? We're you expecting claims of telepathically communicating taste channels to virtual reality users? Or maybe they managed to upload someone's consciousness into vr, through which delivered virtual taste.

As far as hacker news pedantry goes, this is award winning.

> what did you expect?

Something like electrodes stimulating the tongue to create the sensation of flavour. I wouldn't call this "virtual taste" for the same reason I wouldn't describe Glade as "virtual scent".

The VR goggles seem like unnecessary baggage for this demo. I'm not sure what applications this has outside of VR but I can only imagine that it would have to be more interesting than adding dimensionality to a VR cooking game.

If convincing enough, biting seems like it could be an issue too given the size and form factor. I wonder if any of the subjects were tempted to find the center.

I'm also patiently awaiting smell-o-vision for games, even though it'll probably be a whole bunch of bad smells for most shooting games given the scenes in which they're set

That could (theoretically, I never played it) be exactly what a game like This War of Mine could take advantage of. Or, in a more uplifting way, a game like Overcooked.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_War_of_Mine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overcooked

I have played hundreds of hours of This War of Mine, and have to say this is one feature I would rather never be implemented. The game centers around human misery in a war-torn civilian population, and those tastes are things I do not want to experience.

Overcooked would be fun, otoh.

Oh, for sure. I don’t think it would be positive to implement it in This War of Mine, but I get the feeling it would be powerful, as in an experience that would stick would you.

A Neural-link where you inject the electrical signals of whatever taste you want, directly in the brain, would be far superior than licking a piece of tech.

Queue Cypher eating that juicy virtual steak in The Matrix, saying "ignorance is bliss".

Cue? Or don’t forget to cue the Dequeue :)

We all know the real money/use case here is porn and adult experiences

Tactile feedback, sure. But smelling and tasting, I'm not so sure xD

Indeed, a rick-roll of smellovision. Something like arse flavoured crisps.

https://gamescent.com/

i could have sworn someone made a microelectrode mesh that you put on your tongue, so when certain parts of the mesh have current run through them, they stimulate certain areas of your tongue (but it didn't lead to people 'tasting' or anything, since 'taste' is usually paired with olfactory sensations)

It sounds like they're not virtual flavors. They're real flavors; the actual molecules are released from the gel.

It seems the actual taste component is indeed virtual, which could be pretty cool. It might be able to produce a truer sweetness than any artificial sweetener, which all have off-tastes.

Can you explain how the actual taste component is indeed virtual?

The article mentions the hydrogels already contain the tastants, even those beyond the 5 fundamental ones, which means a rich taste+smell combo already present in physical form in the gels.

I'm not sure what to think of this. It seems part amazing and part scary.

It's in the same vein as music for sense of hearing and videos for seeing, I think

I'm not really scared of it it just seems a little bit useless.

You are clearly an individual of no taste.

It's fine. Just be sure to immediately spit it out if you ever taste even a hint of blueberry.

I want it! I want an everlasting gobstopper! I want it now...

> Another potential use is immersive online shopping in virtual grocery stores. Users could touch a specific virtual food and be able to taste that item.

Are they imagining a world where everyone and their dog gets about 9000 hydrogel packs in the mail on a regular basis so you can virtually taste test everything in the store?

Even in a situation where a company sends me a single taste ad in the mail I'm not putting that in my mouth. Scratch and sniff by mail is already dubious.

Also the standardized taste test? What would be the difference between this and simply giving the flavor compounds in a disposable packet. What's the need for the device or the vr headset?

I guess I'm getting old grumpy but when I see these "neat projects" try to turn around and say how it could be applicable in the real world my eyes roll so far in my head I nearly go blind.

cyanide taste

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