There is now a TV screen you can taste

(Image Courtesy: Reuters)

Homei Miyashita, a Japanese professor from the Meiji University has developed a prototype display that you can actually taste.

Taste the TV (TTTV) is the result of a collaboration between Miyashita and thirty students from the university, who have also produced other multi-sensory experiences such as a fork that can make food taste better.

The goal, Miyashita told Reuters, is to make remote dining possible, giving people, "the experience of something like eating at a restaurant on the other side of the world, even while staying at home".

TTTV's prototype was built over the last year and a commercial version would cost about 100,000 yen (Approx. Rs 65,000) to produce.

How does it work?

TTTV uses a carousel of canisters to spray flavours over a hygienic film, that is rolled over the flat screen display for people to taste.

These canisters can spray a variety of different flavours and Miyashita revealed he was in talks with various companies for different applications of the product, such as a device that sprays the taste of a pizza or chocolate over a slice of bread.

Miyashita also hopes to create a platform, that users can download various tastes from, similar to music services that let people listen to and download music.

In a demonstration shown to Reuters, one of Miyashita's students told the voice-activated display that she wanted to taste chocolate. The machine then confirmed the order and sprayed the flavour onto the sheet.

"It's kind of like milk chocolate," said the student.

"It's sweet like a chocolate sauce."