CES 2023: Smelling, touching take center stage in metaverse
Is the metaverse closer than we think? It depends on who you ask at CES, where companies are showing off innovations that could immerse us deeper into virtual reality. otherwise known as VR.
The metaverse — essentially a buzzword for three-dimensional virtual communities where people can meet, work and play — was a key theme during the four-day tech gathering in Las Vegas that ends Sunday.
Taiwanese tech giant HTC unveiled a high-end VR headset that aims to compete with market leader Meta, and a slew of other companies and startups touted augmented reality glasses and sensory technologies that can help users feel — and even smell — in a virtual environment.
Among them, Vermont-based OVR Technology showcased a headset containing a cartridge with eight primary aromas that can be combined to create different scents. It's scheduled to be released later this year.
An earlier, business-focused version used primarily for marketing fragrances and beauty products is integrated into VR goggles and allows users to smell anything from a romantic bed of roses to a marshmallow roasting over a fire at a campsite.
The company says it aims to help consumers relax and is marketing the product, which comes with an app, as a sort of digital spa mixed with Instagram.
“We are entering an era in which extended reality will drive commerce, entertainment, education, social connection, and wellbeing,” the company's CEO and co-founder Aaron Wisniewski said in a statement. “The quality of these experiences will be measured by how immersive and emotionally engaging they are. Scent imbues them with an unmatched power.”
But more robust and immersive uses of scent — and its close cousin, taste — are still further away on the innovation
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