CES 2023: Smelling and touching take center stage in the metaverse

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LAS VEGAS (AP) Is the metaverse closer than we think?

It depends who you ask at CES, where companies are showcasing innovations that could immerse us deeper in virtual reality, otherwise known as VR.

The metaverse, essentially a buzzword for three-dimensional virtual communities where people can meet, work and play, was a key theme during the four-day tech rally in Las Vegas that concludes on Sunday.

Taiwanese tech giant HTC has unveiled a high-end VR headset that aims to compete with market leader Meta, and a number of other companies and startups have touted augmented reality glasses and sensory technologies that can help users feel and even smell in a virtual environment.

Among them, Vermont-based OVR Technology unveiled a headset containing a cartridge with eight primary flavors that can be combined to create different scents. Its release is expected later this year.

An older, business-focused version used primarily for the marketing of fragrances and beauty products is integrated into the VR glasses and allows users to smell anything from a romantic bed of roses to a marshmallow roasting over a campfire. .

The company says it wants to help consumers relax and is marketing the product, which comes with an app, as a kind of digital spa mixed with Instagram.

We are entering an era where extended reality will drive commerce, entertainment, education, social connection and well-being, company CEO and co-founder Aaron Wisniewski said in a statement. The quality of these experiences will be measured by how engaging and emotionally engaging they are. The scent infuses them with unrivaled power.

But the more robust and addictive uses of perfume and its close cousin, taste, are further still on the innovation spectrum. Experts say even the most accessible VR technologies are in their infancy and too expensive for many consumers to buy.

The numbers show that there is declining interest. Sales of VR headsets, which have found popular use in games, fell 2% last year, according to research firm NPD Group, a sour note for companies betting on increased adoption.

However, big companies like Microsoft and Meta are investing billions. And many more are joining the race to capture market share in assistive technologies, including wearable devices that replicate touch.

Customers, however, aren’t always impressed with what they find. Ozan Ozaskinli, a technical consultant who traveled more than 29 hours from Istanbul to attend CES, dressed up in yellow gloves and a black vest to test a so-called haptic product, which transmits sensations through hums and vibrations and stimulates our senses of touch.

Ozaskinli was trying to type a code on a keyboard that allowed him to pull a lever and unlock a box containing a shiny gem. But the experience was mostly a disappointment.

I think it’s far from reality right now, Ozaskinli said. But if I was considering it to replace Zoom meetings, why not? At least you can hear something.

Proponents say the widespread adoption of VR will ultimately benefit different parts of society by essentially unlocking the ability to be with anyone, anywhere, anytime. While it’s too early to know what these technologies can do once they’re fully mature, companies looking to achieve the most engaging user experiences are welcoming them with open arms.

Aurora Townsend, chief marketing officer at Flare, a company due to launch a VR dating app called Planet Theta next month, said her team is building its app to incorporate more sensations like touch once technology will be more widely available on the consumer market.

Being able to feel the ground when you walk with your partner or hold their hand while doing those subtle ways we engage people will change once haptic technology is fully immersive in VR, Townsend said.

However, many of these products are unlikely to be widely used in the next few years, even in games, said Matthew Ball, a metaverse expert. Instead, he said the pioneers of adoption will likely be fields that have bigger budgets and more precise needs, such as bomb units that use haptics and virtual reality to help with their work and others in the medical field.

In 2021, neurosurgeons at Johns Hopkins said they used augmented reality to perform spinal fusion surgery and remove a cancerous tumor from a patient’s spine.

And optical technology from Lumus, an Israeli company that makes AR glasses, is already being used by underwater welders, fighter pilots and surgeons who want to monitor a patient’s vital signs or MRI scans during a procedure without having to look at several screens. said David Goldman, vice president of marketing for the company.

Meanwhile, Xander, a Boston-based startup that makes smart glasses that display real-time captions of in-person conversations for the hearing-impaired, will launch a pilot program with the US Veterans Administration next month to test some of its technology. , said Alex Westner, co-founder and CEO of the company. He said the agency will allow veterans who have appointments for hearing loss or other audio impairments to try the glasses on at some of their clinics. And if it goes well, the agency would likely become a client, Westner said.

Elsewhere, major companies from Walmart to Nike have rolled out various VR ventures. But it’s unclear how much they may benefit during the technology’s early stages. Consulting firm McKinsey says the metaverse could generate as much as $5 trillion by 2030. But outside of gaming, much of today’s use of VR remains somewhat fringe entertainment, said Michael Kleeman. technology strategist and visiting scholar at the University of California at San Diego. .

When people promote it, what they have to answer is where is the value in that? Where is the profit? Not what’s funny, what’s cute, and what’s interesting.

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