Lotus: Enhancing the Immersive Experience in Virtual Environment with Mist-based Olfactory Display

Abstract

With the advance of virtual reality (VR) headset and haptic technologies, users can have a great experience when they are immersed in the virtual environment (VE). A fewer of research allow users to perceive the odor from the VE simultaneously. Based on the five senses, olfaction is one of the human sense that can perceive chemical information from the environment, which is also important for recreating the VE. In the past, some research groups have shown the techniques of olfactory display. However, to create the olfactory feedback for immersive VR when the user moving around in the tracking area, where a moveable display or a lightweight portable device is required, due to the user's nose is the only human receptor for perceiving the scent. We present Lotus, a steerable mist-based olfactory display with an airflow guiding module for simulating environments with olfaction. It can provide two kinds of VEs simultaneously for enhancing the immersive experience without carrying the weighty liquid.