You probably have a friend who constantly posts pictures of drinks on social media, and more than once you've wondered if that drink is truly as delicious as it looks. That might soon be resolved, because researcher Nimesha Ranasinghe and her team from the National University of Singapore have found a way to transfer the basic appearance and taste of lemonade over the Internet.
The team used an RGB color sensor and a pH sensor to capture the color and acidity of a freshly poured glass of lemonade. These data were then sent to a special glass filled with water in another location.
An electrode around the rim of the glass mimicked the lemonade's acidity by stimulating the drinker's taste buds with electric pulses, while LED lights replicated the color. To test the digital glass, the team gathered thirteen people to try a variety of real and virtual lemonades without knowing which was which. The lemonades came in three colors: yellow, green, and cloudy white. The volunteers were trained to rest their tongues on the rim of the glass while drinking, so they would benefit from the electric stimulation.
On average, the volunteers reported that the real lemonade tasted better than the virtual one. However, they perceived the cloudy white lemonade as sour, possibly because of the brightness of the LED lights. The current system isn't yet able to transfer the full flavor of a drink, but the team plans to add other features.
"We are working on a complete virtual cocktail with smell, taste and color. We want to be able to create any drink", says Ranasinghe.
The team claims that beyond social media sharing, virtual aromas could help people enjoy digital versions of sugary drinks without consuming calories or damaging their teeth.
Source: New Scientist
