The TV is outfitted with a carousel of 10 flavor canisters that spray a combination of tastes onto a hygienic film to create the taste of food shown on the display. (Image credit: Meiji University via YouTube)
Ending the year on a fun note… with testable television. It’s like one of those Looney Toons “Home of the future” cartoons, made true.
In Japan, researchers from Meiji University have designed a TV that recreates the taste of foods shown on the display that watchers can safely sample. The idea is to create a multisensory experience in the era of Covid-19, where people can eat at virtual restaurants with others around the globe. While watchers will not be able to eat a fresh pizza or burger using the Taste the TV (TTTV) device, they can taste the essence of those foods.
The TTTV prototype was designed using a carousel of ten canisters, each with unique flavors. The canisters spray a combination of flavors onto a hygienic film that closely mimics food displayed on a screen, which users can then taste. According to the researchers, the device costs about $875 to produce using readily available hardware, and they are currently in talks with companies to develop a method to spray those food flavors onto toast that watchers could eat.
To that end, the researchers have also produced several food-related devices, including a fork that makes food taste richer. It’s currently unknown if any of these taste technologies will ever hit the market, but it’s an interesting concept that’s one rung above Smell-O-Vision.
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