Futuristic Face Mask Could Let You Smell The Virtual World

As technology advances at lightning speed, one frontier is proving a little too tricky to get right. Smell-o-vision has remained mainly in the minds of dreamers and innovators trying to make getting a sniff of the food on shows like Top Chef a reality.
 
The City University of Hong Kong might be just a whiff away from actually delivering a wearable device that will have you smelling your movies.
 
The little gadget looks like a nose strip, but instead of placing it on your bridge, you’ll put it right between your top lip and nostrils. Two odor generators (OGs) containing a scented paraffin wax and a thermal actuator will reside there.

It is hooked to a VR system, and the OGs can melt the wax and emit a scent. The actuator is then shut off, and the wax will return to its solid state.
 
Of course, this would mean that only two scents will be hosted on the device. A larger face mask that sits over the nose and mouth can hold up to nine different fragrances, including rosemary, mint, pancakes, pineapple, and even the polarizing durian fruit.

In a paper from Nature Communications, the team asked a group of 11 volunteers to help test the gadget out, and it was found that there was a 93% success rate in the subjects being able to recognize a scent.
 
The researchers also believe that such a device could be used for entertainment and education, healthcare, and human-machine interfaces.

 
 
[via New Atlas and NewScientist, images via various sources]