This article explores pioneering research led by Professor Motofumi Hattori and colleagues at the Kanagawa Institute of Technology, who are developing advanced olfactory and taste display technologies to enhance immersion in virtual environments. While visual and auditory displays have long dominated digital media, the human sense of smell, once considered comparatively unimportant, is now recognised as a powerful contributor to presence, realism and emotional engagement. The research group, comprising Hattori, Dr Yohei Seta and Professor Yuichi Bannai, combines complementary expertise in gas-flow simulation, hardware development and human olfactory science to create next-generation desktop and wearable scent displays. Central to their work is a novel piezoelectric atomisation mechanism capable of vaporising aroma liquids through microscopic apertures, producing rapid and precise scent delivery. This approach avoids key limitations of earlier inkjet-based systems, offering a compact and practical solution suitable for wearable technologies, including VR head-mounted displays. Integrated with eye-tracking systems, these devices can tailor scent output to the user’s focus point within a virtual scene, enabling highly realistic interactions, such as smelling a flower picked in a metaverse environment. Beyond entertainment, the researchers anticipate wide-ranging applications across education, museums, medical training and more, with the long-term potential for personalised olfactory experiences produced via 3D-printed devices. Their ongoing work in taste display technology further extends the sensory boundaries of virtual reality, emphasising the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration between chemistry, VR research and computational simulation. Collectively, their innovations aim to transform virtual spaces into truly multisensory environments that more closely replicate human experience.
Motofumi Hattori (Tue,) studied this question.