 |
Olfactory User Interfaces - Judith Amores Dissertation
Sure, we know all about the possible types of user interfaces; there are visual interfaces, auditory interfaces, haptic interfaces... How about scent interfaces?
MIT Media Lab's Judith Amores, a PhD student and research assistant in the Fluid Interfaces group, has some ideas:
She's defending her thesis on Monday; best of luck!
Naturally, science fiction authors have been to this part of the intellectual world before. In his 1977 novel The Dosadi Experiment, Frank Herbert describes a unique alarm clock:
Would you believe that there are already real-world applications for this idea?
Human-computer interaction has traditionally focused on interfaces that provide explicit visual, auditory, or haptic feedback. This thesis proposes a new type of user interface that uses scent as an implicit, less conscious output that influences the person's cognition and pairs it with implicit physiological information as the input to the system. Unlike other modalities such as sound or light, olfactory stimuli presented during sleep are less likely to awaken the user, and, during the daytime they can be subtle enough not to distract the user from their primary activity. Therefore, scent offers a unique opportunity to create novel interfaces and applications that extend from wake to sleep states.
The odalarm awoke Jorj X. McKie with a whiff of lemon. For just an instant his mind played tricks on him. He thought he was on Tutalsee's gentle planetary ocean floating softly on his garlanded island.
Hakugen Online is selling an alarm clock that will wake you up with either of two scents.
A wasabi-based fire alarm is under development at Japan's Shiga University of Medical Science.
Instead of a loud noise, the alarm dishes out the chemical compound allyl isothiocyanate.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 7/25/2020)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Communication ")
Rid Thyself Of Ads On The Newsbox
'Can't we scramble that commercial?' - Robert Heinlein, 1941.
Google's Remixed 'Your News Update' ala Heinlein, Clarke, Pohl
'Perhaps we had better use the soundtrack and let it hunt.' Robert Heinlein, 1941.
5G Will Be Crucial Backup For Self-Driving Cars
'... some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre has got your life in his hands.' - Charles Stross, 2007
Olfactory User Interfaces - Judith Amores Dissertation
Awakened with a whiff of lemon.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Current News
Las Vegas Tunnels To Have Autonomous Teslas
'...just a steady velvety whirr as the taxi sped along.'
TCL CSOT 17-Inch Printed OLED Scrolling Display
'..a wide sheet of clear material suddenly flared with light and swirling colour.'
Reachy Humanoid VR Teleoperation App
"I went to the control room where the three other men were manipulating their mechanical men...'
Unitree A1 Robot ala Black Mirror and Snow Crash
'The legs are long, curled way up to deliver power...'
DALL-E Makes Creative Images From Text
Okay, sf fans. If you could have some art created from a science fiction sentence, what sentence would you pick?
BladeBUG Robots Clean Massive Wind Turbine Blades
'There were the cleaners, with large padded feet, who were apparently polishing their way the whole length...'
Looms To Manually Weave Lunar Rover Wheels
It's fascinating to me how the Apollo program forced people to think outside their usual boxes.
IceBot Antarctic (Planetary?) Robotic Explorers Made Of Ice
'Some will combine in place to form more complicated structures, like excavators or centipedes.'
Glad 2020 Is Over
Maybe you missed one of these?
PEDOT Polymer Could Enhance Brain-Machine Interfaces
'the hair-fine wire going deep into Owen's brain, down into the pleasure center.'
Study: Robots Encourage Humans To Take Risks
Not exactly Three Laws compliant.
Kinetic Buildings And Psychotropic Houses
'There was a dim whirring, and the spheres tipped and began to rotate...'
Jupe Urban Escape Pods Have Tesla, SpaceX Roots
'The houses are prefabricated units... and they sell at the flat rate of five hundred dollars a room — set up.'
Best Robot Dance Video Of 2020
'I can Mashed Potato... I can do the Twist.'
Vertical Farm In Singapore's Output Is 1.5 Tons Per Day
'A towering eighty-story structure like the office "In-and-Out" baskets stacked up to the sky.'
3D Printed 'Blisk' Manufactured In Orbit
'It can be mass-produced only in the orbiting factories...'
