Burlington the generator maker space has been home for many successful startups. Let’s have an insight on burlington makers to add sense of smell to vr in the coming modules.
It is adding sense of smell to VR Headsets. Now, the company is about to launch the product commercially, which is of candy bar size and attached to VR Headsets. The device can be placed above the nose.
VR Software in education, training or gaming can be programmed to trigger tiny bursts of scent at precise moments. The Company is about to finish its first 200 systems and they can be used in education, trauma therapy treatment and more.
Burlington makers to add sense of smell to vr
Flego tried a Virtual Reality system which was brought by UVM Health Network Technology expert and felt it is a beast of a machine. Later on, Aaron wisniewski who have never tried Virtual Reality gave it a spin.
Wisniewski told that he placed the headset without any expectations and it blew his mind. After a week, they thought of adding a scent after having a conversation.
Flego, cooper and wisniewski brothers gathered money from an angel investor to launch olfactory virtual reality(OVR).
Demo of the technology includes two hand held controllers along with buttons. This setup allows users to pick up garlic and basil in virtual pizza kitchen and brings virtual herbs smell to user’s nose. In another environment, it will pull rose from soil and users can smell both soil on its roots and flower petals.
The battery powered on VR systems referred to as OX1 contains a custom made cartridge that comes with nine different scents in tiny cylinders and scent actuators.
It fires one or two micro droplets which are micron in size. Tiny droplets will be dropped for a fraction of a millisecond. Cartridges are coated with a special liquid and the company states it as a trade secret and doesn’t reveal it.
OVR wouldn’t allow taking photographs of its cartridges and few other machinery in its office. Nine mini cylinders present contains a two millimeters of custom made liquid scent. Beta testing states that these cartridges will be good when used between two weeks to a month on a regular usage.
Olfactory VR Project uses a phenomenon known as piezo electronics which includes an electric charge that accumulates when mechanical stress is applied to materials such as crystals and ceramics. This exists in OX1 unit to control the volume and size of the scent droplets.
Olfactory Virtual Reality
OVR Technology is about to make 200 developer kits which will constitute OX1, water based liquid scent and software. Virtual Reality content developers can make use of this software to program firing of the scent at short intervals. Few of the units are out and the rest are to be made.
The very first unit went to a psychologist Rizzo at the University of Southern California who uses Virtual Reality to treat military veterans suffering from PTSD. He was pleased with the remarkable piece of technology and stated it as tiny, cheap and more usable than the scent system which he has been using.
Rizzo even expects that by next year there will be at least a hundred sites in and around the country where the olfactory technology will be in use.
Members of OVR even stressed that they are not just concentrating on entertainment market and wanted to expand their feet into education, training and healthcare. As of now, it is not into gaming industry but it does want to game developers to adopt to this technology.
Hoping that, this technology works well and adds scent to Virtual Reality Devices.
