Chemical Haptics could bring touch sensations like cold and heat to VR

pcgamer.com:

It's somewhat staggering how far VR has come in recent years. Household devices are by no means uncommon and cost about as much as your standard console. With rigs like the Oculus Quest 2, you don't even need a computer or cables to get that VR immersion on demand.

But Virtual Reality is all about the big dream. It's not called Virtual Close to Reality. VR is about making experiences feel real in ways other mediums just can't yet. New products release all the time like VR treadmills and haptic body kits to try to enhance the experience, but there's just so much nuance we can't yet translate to digital worlds.

However, one more reality hurdle is being aptly leapt over by a team at the University of Chicago (via New Scientist). Jasmine Lu, Ziwei Liu, Jas Brooks, and Pedro Lopes are developing a new kind of haptic feedback they've dubbed chemical haptics, and it sounds super cool. As well as warm, tingly, and numb.

Lu's website talks about a paper that's soon to be released to the public. It shows off two devices built by the team which deliver liquid stimulants to the skin of the person wearing them. They're soft silicone patches that sit on the skin and use micropumps to pass the chemicals through to the wearer. One goes across the face over the bridge of the nose, delivering chemicals to the cheeks while the other sits on the forearms. 

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The abstract explains that the team worked with different chemicals to deliver different sensations. Five chemicals were found to deliver lasting results in safe doses, though my sensitive skin does worry somewhat. Sanshool provides a tingling feeling, lidocaine for