The idea of being able to smell a virtual world is something that's existed since the mid-20th century, but every time it's been attempted the end result has been lacklustre or downright disgusting. Feelreal wants to change that though, with its new headset that can let you smell virtual worlds. Its headset accessory can take up to nine olfactory cartridges at a time, with 255 options to pick from to customize your VR smelling experience.
The list of smells that the additional faceplate offers includes wildflowers, forest, moss, patchouli, electricity, burnt wood, barbecue, dragons, mountains and cookies. Other scents that we're told will be possible with the finished product include baby hair, barns, lingonberry pie, circus, gun grease, medication, mold, railroad, fish, smoked fish, stockfish, zombie, and explosion.
That's a lot of fish smells.
But that's not all the Feelreal accessory offers. It combines its smell sensor with a new ultrasonic ionizer that can spray your face with water, blow air on your face with a pair of micro-fans, heat you up with a pair of small heaters within the headset, and vibrate to give you force feedback.
The idea with all of these additional outputs is that you'll be able to "feel" the virtual world like never before. Feel the heat from a desert, the spray from the ocean, or the wind as you fall from heights, all while being fully aware of what your environment smells like.
The only downside to all this (other than all the fish smells) is that it's not a real product just yet, it's a pre-release Kickstarter-planned product. It's coming to the crowdfunding platform on April 9, so get ready to put down a few hundred dollars if you want it, but it won't release until next year at least.
