Sensabubble is a multi-sensory technology that creates soap bubbles and releases a scent when they burst. They can even have images projected onto them.
Researchers from Bristol university have created a new form of human/computer interaction with Sensabubble. The bubble-based technology helps create bubbles with a specified size and frequency, fill them up with an opaque fog that can be scented, controls their route, tracks their location and even projects an image onto them.
The research paper will be presented at ACM Computer Human Interaction 2014 conference from 26 April-1 May 2014 in Toronto, Canada. Researchers state that the technology could be used in areas such as gaming, education, advertisements and more.
“The human sense of smell is powerful, but there are few research systems that explore and examine ways to use it. We have taken the first steps to explore how smell can be used to enhance and last longer in a visual object such as a soap bubble,” said Sriram Subramanian, Professor of Human-Computer Interaction in the University’s Bristol Interaction and Graphics group.
“There are many areas in which bubble-based technology like SensaBubble could be applied, such as a SensaBubble clock that releases the number of scented bubbles corresponding to the hour or SensaBubble Maths, an educational game for children, which incorporates smell as feedback on their success,” he added.
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Recently a team of researchers from Harvard University created an ‘oChip’ that can send thousands of unique fragrances via phone calls, text or social media. The ‘ochip’ can be used in a phone called an oPhone and can send scents via smartphone attachments and Bluetooth devices across countries. The researchers believe that oPhone can even help Alzheimer’s patients recover old memories associated with the different scents. The oPhone is expected to be launched in 2015.
Source: Bristol Univ