{"id":429,"date":"2017-10-31T13:52:46","date_gmt":"2017-10-31T13:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/?p=429"},"modified":"2018-01-08T21:06:18","modified_gmt":"2018-01-08T21:06:18","slug":"the-future-is-here-can-you-feel-see-and-smell-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/the-future-is-here-can-you-feel-see-and-smell-it\/","title":{"rendered":"The future is here, can you feel, see and smell it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/span>“Are you going to the ‘Feelies’ tonight Henry?”<\/strong>\u00a0[1]<\/p>\n

In Aldous Huxley’s book ‘The Brave New World’ [1], he speaks about going to the ‘feelies’, which transcribes as\u00a0 Huxley’s futuristic vision of cinema audiences\u00a0being enabled to\u00a0feel the scenery in the film\u00a0, as well as\u00a0view\u00a0the film simultaneously.<\/p>\n

Figure 1. ‘The Feelies’ A London based group is already designing sensory perceptive feedback for films and virtual realms. [2]<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Eighty Five years on, we are now able to allow PC users touch led interactions via varied forms of haptic <\/strong>rendered interfaces connected to\u00a0haptic desk mounted\u00a0devices\u00a0or exoskeleton\u00a0gloves, so users can virtually\u00a0sculpt a\u00a0ceramic pot, or grasp at a haptic rendered\u00a0object in the\u00a0virtual realm.<\/p>\n

Figure 2. Geomagic Touch haptic\u00a0Device (own source).<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Chase Buckley [3] predicts that new\u00a0user interaction technology\u00a0will further augment\u00a0sensory\u00a0interactions and it will begin\u00a0trending\u00a0as early as\u00a02018-2019.\u00a0Buckley predicts that the next level up from haptic interaction is ‘Hapnotic’<\/strong> feedback. This is\u00a0a new way to subtly change the users feelings and\u00a0perceptions\u00a0via a form of dual\u00a0sensory stimulus which will be fed to the user\u00a0simultaneously. Users will feel a\u00a0blended sensory feedback e.g. sight and sound, which will\u00a0subtly lull\u00a0\u00a0the user in to a form of hypnotic, immersive\u00a0states.\u00a0Currently the concept is\u00a0called\u00a0synesthetic sensory interaction and it\u00a0is being cited as the answer to Huxley’s vision of the ‘feelies’…<\/p>\n

Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

How many times has the smell of a barbeque and\u00a0the heat of the sun\u00a0made you\u00a0reflect on\u00a0memories of\u00a0long languid\u00a0summers in\u00a0your\u00a0garden with friends and family?\u00a0Think about it, it\u00a0just takes\u00a0a slight\u00a0tang of lit\u00a0charcoal in the air,\u00a0to make\u00a0you wish you had a burger in one hand\u00a0and a beer in the other. The sense of smell is the only sense which we use without cognitive thought. We activate our sense of smell purely\u00a0just by taking a breath.\u00a0 It is also the sense which is most likely to\u00a0connect and trigger\u00a0our core memory.\u00a0Imagine smelling cut grass without triggering a memory of summer, or smelling\u00a0citrus or\u00a0cinnamon without conjuring the Christmas festivities.<\/p>\n

Infants often use a synesthetic version of\u00a0the senses as a whole to transcribe real world interactions. It is only later in life when the brain organisers the senses to work independently of each other so that the eyes\u00a0focus vision,\u00a0the ears pitch sound etc… Buckley shares with us the detail behind\u00a0‘synesthetic<\/strong>\u00a0feedback’ design\u00a0products. Products which are\u00a0currently being\u00a0utilised\u00a0via a\u00a0variety\u00a0of\u00a0devices e.g. goggles, headsets, body adornments.\u00a0All of the interactive devices, aim\u00a0to connect\u00a0the\u00a0user\u00a0to a\u00a0mixed fusion\u00a0of sensory perceptions\u00a0simultaneously, thereby\u00a0eliciting multi sensory\u00a0perceptions\u00a0which add value to\u00a0a virtual scene or a\u00a0film.<\/p>\n

Can you foresee you booking a Feelies chair in the next Odeon experience?<\/p>\n

Over to you…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Has it taken 85 years to manage to fill Aldous Huxley’s vision of\u00a0being able to go to the Feelies?<\/strong><\/p>\n

What are your thoughts?\u00a0 Do you look forward to placing on the 3D\u00a0headset,\u00a0which could\u00a0allow you to\u00a0view trees blowing and feel the breath of wind on your face at the same time? Do you think this would allow a better immersive experience\u00a0from your favourite film? Or do you think this is technology mumbo jumbo?<\/p>\n

Whatever your initial thoughts why not try to explore the links below and perhaps\u00a0consider if you would use this type of interaction? Who\u00a0could gain value from\u00a0using this type of\u00a0interaction?\u00a0It would be interesting to read your thoughts on this future trend.<\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

1. Aldous Huxley (1932).\u00a0Brave New World.\u00a0Chatto and Windus<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0http:\/\/www.thefeelies.io\/<\/a><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0https:\/\/medium.com\/@ChaseBuckleyUX\/the-future-is-imminent-9-design-trends-for-2018-38de77ef95c0<\/a><\/p>\n

4. http:\/\/ericparren.net\/works\/synesthesia-glasses.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0“Are you going to the ‘Feelies’ tonight Henry?”\u00a0[1] In Aldous Huxley’s book ‘The Brave New World’ [1], he speaks about going to the ‘feelies’, which transcribes as\u00a0 Huxley’s futuristic vision of cinema audiences\u00a0being enabled to\u00a0feel the scenery in the film\u00a0, as well as\u00a0view\u00a0the film simultaneously. Figure 1. ‘The Feelies’ A London based group is already […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-design-comment","tag-haptic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":449,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429\/revisions\/449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}