Temperature simulation in VR applications with trigeminal nerve stimulation
VR systems are constantly improving, but they're still largely eye and ear devices, with perhaps a little haptic feedback thrown in for good measure. That still leaves 40% of the canonical five senses out of the game, unless of course that trigeminal nerve-stimulating VR prop spreads.
Although you might be tempted to dismiss this as just a "Smellovision"-style olfactory throwback, the work of [Jas Brooks], [Steven Nagels] and [Pedro Lopes] at Human-Computer Integration at the University of Chicago Lab is intended to provide a simulation of different thermal regimes that a VR user might encounter in a simulation. Granted, the addition of a ready-to-use Vive headset sends chemicals into the wearer's nose using three microfluidic pumps with vibrating mesh atomizers, but that's the choice of chemicals and their target that make it work. The stimulants used are odorless, so instead of triggering the olfactory bulb in the nose, they target the trigeminal nerve, which also innervates the lining of the nose and causes more systemic sensations, such as the generalized heat sensation of chili peppers and the cooling power mints. The helmet exploits these sensations to modify the thermal regime in a simulation.
The video below shows the custom simulation developed for this experiment. In addition to capsaicin heat and eucalyptol cooling, the team added a third channel with 8-mercapto-p-menthan-3-one, an organic compound meant to simulate smoke from a generator which boots into the game. The document details the different receptors that can be stimulated and the different concoctions needed, and full build information is available in the GitHub repository. We will follow this one with interest.
VR systems are constantly improving, but they're still largely eye and ear devices, with perhaps a little haptic feedback thrown in for good measure. That still leaves 40% of the canonical five senses out of the game, unless of course that trigeminal nerve-stimulating VR prop spreads.
Although you might be tempted to dismiss this as just a "Smellovision"-style olfactory throwback, the work of [Jas Brooks], [Steven Nagels] and [Pedro Lopes] at Human-Computer Integration at the University of Chicago Lab is intended to provide a simulation of different thermal regimes that a VR user might encounter in a simulation. Granted, the addition of a ready-to-use Vive headset sends chemicals into the wearer's nose using three microfluidic pumps with vibrating mesh atomizers, but that's the choice of chemicals and their target that make it work. The stimulants used are odorless, so instead of triggering the olfactory bulb in the nose, they target the trigeminal nerve, which also innervates the lining of the nose and causes more systemic sensations, such as the generalized heat sensation of chili peppers and the cooling power mints. The helmet exploits these sensations to modify the thermal regime in a simulation.
The video below shows the custom simulation developed for this experiment. In addition to capsaicin heat and eucalyptol cooling, the team added a third channel with 8-mercapto-p-menthan-3-one, an organic compound meant to simulate smoke from a generator which boots into the game. The document details the different receptors that can be stimulated and the different concoctions needed, and full build information is available in the GitHub repository. We will follow this one with interest.
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