New VR device lets you taste-test food-like goo

Virtual reality can, in its own imperfect ways, transport a user into distant experiences. With a headset on, an everyday person can get a brief glimpse of what it’s like to perform a surgery, tour the Louvre, or even make an arrest. One thing VR can’t yet do, however, is simulate the experience of eating lunch. But that could change thanks to a new “bio-integrated gustatory interface” device called “e-Taste.” 

Researchers from Ohio State University detailed how their new device works this week in the journal Science Advances. They created a small electromagnetic pump connected to a liquid channel of chemicals that, when mixed in the right ratios, can approximate the taste of coffee, lemonade, cake, and other food and drinks. That newly crafted chemical liquid is then pushed through via a gel. Users ultimately experience the taste as a liquid that sits in their mouth. Researchers can then remotely control the gel’s perceived intensity. And while an initial group of human test subjects struggled to accurately differentiate between different taste profiles, the study suggests a future VR steakhouse experience might not be as far-fetched as it sounds. 

Researchers analyzed flavor at the molecular level 

e-Taste is composed of three distinct phases. The first phase uses a set of sensors to analyze a food or beverage and recognize common molecules like glucose and glutamate, which contribute to its unique taste. Various combinations of these chemicals correspond to the five basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami. Once the sample is analyzed, the system encodes the data and transmits it wirelessly to the e-Taste device. Researchers do not need to be in the same room or even the same state to send this flavor data. In fact, the paper details how one researcher based in California submerged a sensor patch in a glass of lemonade and then sent the corresponding “digital instruction” to a colleague operating the device in Ohio.

The second phase of the process focuses on replicating the initial sample flavor. A small electromagnetic pump contains multiple liquid chambers filled with chemicals that correspond to different taste sensations. These chemicals are combined in a “mixing zone” in proportions dictated by the estimated molecules present in the food or drink it is attempting to imitate. Once the desired flavor profile is achieved, researchers can adjust the timing of the pump’s cycles to increase or decrease the flavor’s overall intensity. The final mixture is then converted into a gel. Water flowing through the gel carries the tastes into the end user’s mouth. (They don’t swallow the chemical concoction). This process allows the user to perceive specific tastes even though no actual food or beverage is involved.

Ohio State professor and study co-author Jinhua Li noted that chemical dimensions are still “relatively underrepresented” in virtual and augmented reality.

“It’s a gap that needs to be filled and we’ve developed that with this,” Li said in a statement.

Humans test subjects were able to differentiate taste intensity 

The researchers tested their new device on 10 volunteers and received mixed results. On the positive side, the test subjects  were able to differentiate between various sour taste profile intensities with approximately 70 percent accuracy. The tests were less conclusive though when researchers asked participants to distinguish between flavors intended to represent cake, fried egg, coffee, and fish soup. That discrepancy is not necessarily due entirely to poor device performance though. Even in the physical world, taste is inherently subjective. Factors such as smell, memory, and visual cues can influence how we perceive food. Two people might experience the taste of the same meal slightly differently.

“Taste and smell are greatly related to human emotion and memory,” Li added. “So our sensor has to learn to capture, control, and store all that information.”

Yizhen Jia, a Ohio State University phd student and paper co-first author, told Popular Science the testing process led to some unexpected laboratory moments. Some volunteers were surprised to taste liquid seemingly resembling coffee coming out of a device that looked nothing like a normal coffee maker. Jia himself said he at one point gave himself a higher dose of citric acid in one experiment than expected and quickly realized they needed to dial it back down. Figuring out the right amount of chemicals to add and for what duration was a constant process of trial and error.  

Interestingly, this is not the first attempt to bring taste sensations to VR. Last year, researchers from City University of Hong Kong developed a handheld, lollipop-like device designed to help people taste certain flavors in virtual reality settings. That device contained chemicals capable of producing nine different flavors. When a voltage was applied to its gel-like surface, the chemicals would travel upward as a liquid and mix with the user’s saliva, creating a facsimile of the intended virtual taste experience. Details about that device were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

There’s a long, messy history of adding senses to media 

Bringing taste to VR might be new, but the practice of trying to add in more senses to media dates back nearly a century. In the 1930s, several theaters experimented with releasing fragrance into the air throughout films. A Swiss advertising executive named Hans Laube then patterned a new system dubbed “Smell-O-Vision,” which used a complex system of pipes in a movie theater to release perfumed scent during certain cued points in the performance. More recently, researchers from Japan designed an at home television they dubbed the “smelling screen” that used gel pellets to send out vaporized streams of scent towards viewers. And just last month, Sony teased a future system they are working on where users can walk into a cube-like platform surrounded by LED screens to play iconic PlayStation games like The Last Of Us. In addition to a 360-degree visual experience, Sony said players will also be able to smell aspects of their environment.

The e-Taste researchers believe their device could also have applications beyond video games. Theoretically, the technology could one day allow users to virtually taste-test items before ordering them. Medical professionals might also use the device to remotely assess whether patients have lost certain aspects of taste, which could be an early indicator of illness. Additionally, the device could serve as an aid in reintroducing taste sensations to individuals with certain neurological disorders or illnesses, such as long COVID, that have impaired their ability to taste food.

“This concept is here, and it is a good first step toward becoming a small part of the metaverse,” Li said.

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