There’s no accounting for virtual taste

Ever put on a VR headset and wish you could do more than see, hear, and interact with the digital world around you?

Well, researchers from the City University of Hong Kong have found a way to make VR tastier than ever: by letting you taste it, per Ars Technica.

Virtual taste…

… is not a new concept, but previous attempts were impractical.

• Chemicals could be applied directly to the tongue, but that requires storage.
• Electrical stimulation can trigger flavor responses, but requires putting electrode patches on your tongue, which sounds unpleasant.

The new method uses a lollipop-shaped device that contains flavored hydrogels.

• The user wears a VR headset and a Bluetooth signal tells the lollipop how it should taste.
• A process called iontophoresis sends a current through the gel to trigger a specific flavor, enhanced by seven odor chemicals.
• The user licks, safely tasting the wonders of the virtual world.

There are limits…

… to virtual taste.

• The system can only produce nine preloaded flavors, including cherry, milk, green tea, and durian.
• The gel dries out after about an hour.

But why though? 

While only marginally more practical than the other solutions, it offers some applications.

Researchers suggest the system could be used in virtual standardized taste tests to diagnose “gustatory disorders.” (Imagine sitting down for a hearing test and they also check to see if you can differentiate between milk and grapefruit.)

It could also be used in online shopping, which seems both inordinately silly and very fun. You wouldn’t buy shoes without trying them on, so why buy salt without taking it for a test drive?