Do you remember the scene from The Matrix where the ever-districted Mr. Anderson has his head turned by a woman in a red dress? What do you think that woman smelled like?
No, seriously, answer the question. What did the woman smell like?
The company AromaJoin tried to answer the question with its AromaPlayer, a kind of smell-o-vision the company is promoting to add smells to videos. The company had two products to display. One was two towers sporting smell capsules that blasted my face with cloying scents that almost made me gag. The screen showed the red dress scene from The Matrix and the machine sneezed a kind of fruity scent that the company rep told me was supposed to be perfume.
Other videos included scenes from Pokemon where Pikachu does his thunderbolt, and then I’m hit with lemon scent, for some reason. At least when AromaJoin showed an image of caramel, it actually smelled like caramel. The company did say users could set how strong the blast of air could be, but that wouldn’t change just how artificial these smells smelled. There are apparently 100 scents to choose from, but will any be the perfect scent to watch your favorite anime to? Well the thing isn’t necessarily built for direct retail, and the company is hoping to sell its tech for different media companies.
The other device the company displayed was a collar that wafted these same scents into my face. It was less intrusive, but I wouldn’t be the first to step up if any companies try and stick that into any kind of VR or movie experience. –Kyle Barr
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