Virtual reality technology’s latest invention to help you escape from the real world. Into the realms of imagination and wonder. The world that you can control.
It was never easy creating new dimensions and a whole new arena for humans to enter and control. Virtual reality technology took a long time to develop. And it is still developing. To enable this technology to work at its best, it must be able to control all 5 human senses. The developers understanding this, study the what’s, the why’s and the how’s of the concept to make it a significant part of the human life just like the technology of smartphones and computers.
Human 5 Senses
What are Human 5 senses, really? They’re the physiological capability of humans to perceive something. Some of the human senses include sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. Other than that, are the senses of hunger and thirst, the sense balance, etc. The aim of virtual reality, however, is to control the basic 5 senses of the human body.
VR Technology & Eyes
This is the most important sense organ to control. The objective of the technology is to follow the eye movement and change the position of the arena. When you see that your environment is different, that’s when you believe that you’re actually in the make-believe world. When you move close to an object, it must become magnified. When you move farther away from it, it must diminish. All the laws of physics that applied to the real world: real size, apparent size, depth perception, scaling, etc. must all be implemented in the virtual world to make it seem as real as it can be. Lighting, reflection, textures of materials, the interaction of materials with the light, shadows, shading, all must be taken care of. The scene must change according to the movement of the eyeballs. The user must be able to see the glare when a lot of light falls through, and he must be able to see the blur lining of the far-away mountains when he tries to look at the horizon.
The Head Mounted Display or the HMD is used to control the eyes. It is a display device worn on the head as part of a helmet. It provides a stereoscopic view of the scene having computer aided graphics. The HTC Vive is one of the best HMDs with features that can provide high precision motion controlling and high precision tracking. These HMDs must consider binocular overlap, interpupillary distance, eye limiting resolution, dual video inputs, and multiplexing. Eye trackers especially are an essential component of head-mounted displays, which measure the point of gaze and field of view and process the information to add details to the screen.
VR Technology & Ears
The sense of hearing! Just seeing the virtual world isn’t enough. To make it seem more real, we need to be able to hear the sound waves emitted by various objects in the scene. To give it a realistic feel, the user must be able to listen to the water ripples, the wind, the footsteps and other such tiny details. The VR headphones that are attached to the headset does this job of giving the audio a 3D effect. The function of the ears is not just hearing, but also balance. The fluid in the ears is much affected by the air pressure and movement. The headphones used in the headset manipulate the user’s balance. They send electrical signals to the nerves of the ear so as to give a realistic feeling of movement. A technology called Galvanic Vestibular System or the GVS is used to stimulate the nerves in the ear and signal the brain. It tricks our inner ear into thinking that you are moving in the virtual world. This helps to reduce nausea or what is known as VR sickness. Samsung Entrim 4D uses this GVS technology and has been declared safe.
Now the next three senses haven’t actually been applied much in other technologies such as phones or tablets or PlayStation. But making these senses perceivable in virtual reality just makes the world seem all the more actual. The virtual reality 5 senses concept would definitely set the bar high for all of the technology’s inventions.
VR Technology & Nose
Imagine watching a cooking show on your VR headsets. Wouldn’t it be say, ten times better if you could smell the ingredients and the final product! Digital scent engineering and olfactory representation is an engineering field that is being researched thoroughly. It mainly works by using olfactometers and electronic noses. FEELREAL is a virtual reality technology that enhances your senses. The odor generator provides for seven different removable smell cartridges that can be switched between or even removed depending on what video you’re watching or what game you’re playing. It delivers scents of the ocean, jungle, fire, grass, gunpowder, flowers, and metal. Interested game makers can also customize their own odors. This FEELREAL VR Mask can be attached to any headset like the Oculus Rift or the Sony Morpheus.
VR Technology & Tongue
Making the sense of taste perceivable would revolutionize virtual reality technology. The field of engineering that dwells into this sort of research is called gustatory technology. Virtual taste comes from something called a Digital Taste Simulator which gives the user the ability to taste some of the objects in the scene. In 2012, a team of researchers was able to develop a digital taste simulator that could let the user perceive the four major taste sensations namely, salty, sweet, sour and bitter. Making taste perceivable is possibly the best thing that can happen to the world. Think about it. Eating whatever you want with zero calorie intake. Sounds magnificent, doesn’t it! Imagine eating at the finest restaurants, consuming expensive dishes and having a go at the most fattening desserts! Project Nourished is a gastronomical virtual reality experience which allows you all the above benefits. How do they do that?
The virtual reality technology used here include the aromatic diffuser which dispels the smell of food using ultrasonic and heat, the bone conduction transducer which mimics the chewing sound of the user and transmits it to his ear drums, a gyroscopic utensil which consists of a food detection sensor that maps the physical movements of the user and translates it to virtual reality, virtual cocktail glass with in-built sensors that create an intoxicated simulation, and 3D printed food which are capable of expressing taste, texture and consistency.
VR Technology & Body/Touch
This is the last type of perception needed to make the virtual world seem as realistic as the physical one. Haptic technology or kinaesthetic technology helps to create the impression that you can feel something when you touch a particular object. It measures the force applied by the user and recreates the sense of touch by applying some vibrations and motions to the user. Haptic connections give virtual simulations by introducing vibrations to gaming environments. Disney Research is putting its efforts into a product of virtual reality technology called Surround Haptics which works by matching the game’s sound effects and drawing a pattern of vibrations on the user’s back. The brain sees these several vibrations on the spinal cord and perceives it as one vibrating point. A network of such points is capable of creating various sensations.
Another team of Disney Research is focussing their efforts on something known as reverse electro-vibration which is the process of driving alternating current in an object to give it a certain texture. This current is run through a user so that the system, through sensors can detect what sort of object it has encountered. Running a signal through the user’s finger and getting information out of it is a concept that can be used in various fields of entertainment, education, and security, and not just in virtual reality. Perception of the environment can be changed by making variations in the current passed. Haptics can be used in a lot of fields, and for various purposes. To make the best use of it, a lot of research and study is required, and the world isn’t falling short of knowledge any time soon.
The virtual reality 5 senses concept is one that is still in its developing phase. But once it’s a done deal, it has the potential to bring about a revolution in the world of science and technology. The future isn’t based on virtual reality. The future is virtual reality. Once VR is able to capture and control the 5 senses it will probably become a lot more addictive than phones. Phones and apps in the current day world only control your eyes and ears to an extent. With all the virtual reality technology that so much research is done on, controlling all 5 senses, we’re all probably end up being trapped in Mortal Kombat game or maybe in Pandora"s Box!
I started looking at small companies that were running a sort of virtual reality cottage industry: I had imagined that I would just put on a helmet and be somewhere else - that"s your dream of what it"s going to be.
-Thomas Dolby
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