In his famed book, Brave New World, Aldous Huxley writes about the feelies, movies that engage all of our senses. A team at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology is reaching towards Huxley’s famed movies, focusing first on the sense of smell.
The team recently demoed their new prototype device at IEEE’s Virtual Reality Conference.
The TV uses four corner-mounted fans to mix together scents, thus immersing viewers with their sight and olfactory senses.
According to the group, the device merges and adjusts vapors which are fed through four airflows. The fans and there newly created vapor scents then trick viewers into believing that the scent is coming from a localized area of the screen.
There are still a lot of factors that have not been revealed. For example, how much will it cost to stock the needed scents? TV viewers were mad enough when they found out original 3D glasses for TVs often required regular battery changes or charging. It is unlikely most TV viewers will pony up cash to smell the inside of an Alien chamber in Predator vs. Aliens. Other possible smells just frighten us.
Whether or not the smell-o-vision based TV makes it to market is anyone’s guess; however, what the prototype does show is is that hardware producers are realizing that they need to engage audiences on a more intimate level.
I for one don’t want to smell the TV shows I watch; I am just fine with focusing on my suspension of disbelief.
Several movie theaters tried smell-o-vision years ago, and the results were less than pleasing. Perhaps with today’s technology, the tech could finally meet expectations, but we doubt it.
Here’s a first look at the smelly TV’s setup:
While we think the entire concept of a smell friendly TV is a bit silly, we do see the advantage of watching the Food Network with the new device.
Would you be willing to even consider the idea of purchasing a smell creating TV?
