An experimental new game controller adds the sensation of hot and cold to users' experience of a simulated environment. Touch interfaces and haptic feedback are already a part of how we interact with computers, in the form of iPads, rumbling video game controllers and even 3D joysticks. As the range of interactions with digital environments expands, it's logical to ask what's next: Smell-o-vision has been on the horizon for something like 50 years, but there's a dark horse stalking this race: thermoelectrics. Based on the Peltier effect, these solid-state devices are easy to incorporate into objects of reasonable size, i.e. video game controllers.
In this configuration, a pair of thermoelectric surfaces on either side of a controller rapidly heat up or cool down in order to simulate appropriate conditions in a virtual environment. The temperature difference isn't large - less than 10 degrees heating or cooling after five seconds, but the researchers involved discovered that, as with haptics, just a little sensory nudge can be enough to convince involved participants in a virtual environment that they are experiencing something like the real thing. The research was conducted by researchers at Tokyo Metropolitan University, with collaboration from the National Institute of Special Needs Education.
More information:
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/post.aspx?bid=377&bpid=25544
More information:
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/post.aspx?bid=377&bpid=25544