Scent — a missing piece in VR world
VR (Virtual Reality) technology is gaining greater and greater popularity.
More and more headsets are launching at reasonable prices (just look at Oculus, HTC Vive, and Sony PlayStation VR).
What makes people most excited about VR is the promise of new, visceral experiences. You can live in a fantasy world detached from real life. The ultimate goal of VR technologies is to shrink the experiential difference between the virtual and the real. That might sound crazy, and a little bit scary, but we can’t deny that it’s exciting.
However, to reach the ultimate goal, we’ve got our work cut out for us. But let’s start this journey today.
So, why do we need scent in VR?
All VR headsets on the market merely give us sight and sound. However, the real world has more dimensions. People experience the world in these dimensions, and smell is one of them!
Based on my recent work on projects both large and small, I share the same feeling with VR agencies about the power of scent in elevating experiences.
Scent is the strongest binder of our memories. A simple fragrance will turn a faint memory into an opaque one.
“Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains.” _ Diane Ackerman
I remember a project that used a whiskey aroma. As I watched a man at a bar take a shot, I smelt whiskey from our digital scent device, the Aroma Shooter. I was looking at the man through a screen, but it felt like I really sat there with him.
VR technologies have improved a lot recently and almost anyone can access a VR headset. Even for consumer VR products, scent is inevitable.
However, integrating scents with a VR device can be challenging.
We have developed several methods of making small-scale scent devices work in VR environments.
There are the two main challenges:
- Hardware integration
- Software integration
Hardware integration
We need to make sure our chosen scent device fits well into the existing physical space. The end-users should feel just as comfortable as they would without the device.
Given there are so many VR systems on the market (each varying in size and range of mobility), the size, shape, and mounting position of your scent device are critical factors to consider. In most cases, if the scent device is small and already has a mounting port, designers will have a much easier time.
Software integration
VR teams are incentivized to choose a scent device they can control easily with their pre-existing code. Usually, VR software is built with game engines like Unity and Unreal.
Some experiences are built on native platforms like Windows, iOS, Android, or Mac. Given all these options, software engineers should make sure the scent device they want to use is compatible with an SDK in their preferred programming language and platform.
After your team figures out how to integrate a scent device in both hardware and software, now you can focus on the fun part: choosing the perfect scents for your VR scene.
Final word
Bringing scents into VR might be challenging to get it just right, but your users will surely appreciate the effort.
It is not just to attach an accessory to VR headset but to add a whole new dimension or human sense into the VR world.
At Aromajoin, we’ve researched and developed digital scent technologies for years, and we are creatures hungry for innovation. Let’s connect, discuss, and push this tech forwards together. What we have been developing so far.
* Aroma Shooter: A small, but powerful, digital scent device.
* Aroma Cartridge: A finger-tip-sized scent cartridge that can match any fragrance on Earth.
* Apps: Tools for controlling Aroma Shooters easily from desktops or mobile devices (Android, iOS).
* SDKs: We are developers, so we built tools for developers. SDKs support almost all popular platforms (Windows, iOS, Android, Java, Unity, even Matlab) that you are familiar with.
As always, thanks for reading,
Quang.
