Vi, Chi Thanh, Marzo, Asier, Ablart, Damien, Memoli, Gianluca, Subramanian, Sriram, Drinkwater, Bruce and Obrist, Marianna (2017) TastyFloats: a contactless food delivery system. Interactive Spaces and Surfaces, Brighton, 17 - 20, October 2017. Published in: ACM Interactive Surfaces and Spaces. 161-170. ACM, Brighton, UK. ISBN 97814503469

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Abstract

We present two realizations of TastyFloats, a novel system that uses acoustic levitation to deliver food morsels to the users’ tongue. To explore TastyFloats’ associated design framework, we first address the technical challenges to successfully levitate and deliver different types of foods on the tongue. We then conduct a user study, assessing the effect of acoustic levitation on users’ taste perception, comparing three basic taste stimuli (i.e., sweet, bitter and umami) and three volume sizes of droplets (5µL, 10µL and 20µL). Our results show that users perceive sweet and umami easily, even in minimal quantities, whereas bitter is the least detectable taste, despite its typical association with an unpleasant taste experience. Our results are a first step towards the creation of new culinary experiences and innovative gustatory interfaces.

Item Type:	Conference Proceedings
Keywords:	User-interfaces, Human-computer interaction, taste interfaces, levitation
Schools and Departments:	School of Engineering and Informatics > Informatics
Research Centres and Groups:	Creative Technology
Subjects:	Q Science T Technology
Depositing User:	Sriram Subramanian
Date Deposited:	03 Oct 2017 08:45
Last Modified:	02 Jan 2018 11:30
URI:	http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/70402

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