Virtual food tech adds bite to VR

• Autores: Victoria Turk
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3099, 2016, pág. 23
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Experiments with "virtual food" use electronics to emulate the taste and feel of the real thing, even when there's nothing in the mouth. This tech could add new sensory inputs to virtual reality or augment real-world dining experiences, especially for people with restricted diets or health issues that affect their ability to eat. Nimesha Ranasinghe at the National University of Singapore has already experimented with a "digital lollipop" to emulate different tastes, and a spoon embedded with electrodes that amplify the salty, sour, or bitter flavor of the real food eaten off it. However, his experiments with electrical stimulation had less success simulating sweetness compared to the other tastes. But digitizing this taste could be particularly useful in, for example, helping people cut back on sugary food or drinks.