Introducing the Internet of Smells

Introducing the net of Smells, you will recall Smell-O-Vision from jokes on shows like Futurama and Family Matters.

The idea is that you just will watch movies and tv shows, and smell the items that area unit onscreen.

Strangely , Smell-O-Vision was real — albeit experimental — system that made its just appearance in the 1960 film Scent of Mystery.

The lead man of science on the project is Kasun Karunanayaka, who is a senior research fellow at Malaysia’s Imagineering Institute.When the project started, Karunanayaka was working with Adrian Cheok, whose student created the electric flavor-creating chopsticks that we covered a couple of months ago.Those work by using electrical stimulation on your tongue to create a salty taste.The new electrical Smell Machine works in a very similar means, except that it stimulates your olfactory senses.

The main disadvantage here is that it’s not enough to stimulate a section close to your nose, and the Electric Smell Machine has to actually provide electrical impulses deep inside your nose.

An operator pushes a tube within the user’s nose deeply, and the tube is equipped with a small camera so the operator can direct it towards the user’s olfactory cells.Electrodes on the tip of the tube to stimulate those cells with small amounts of electricity, causing the user to perceive smells.Right now, the researchers aren’t able to management the precise smells the electrodes stimulate, but future development may let that be.