Exploring how technology could change the way we interact with food

Scientists are checking out how future “human-food interaction” systems could deliver fully new activities and novel approaches to interact with foods.

From the development of 3D-printed customized flavors to guidance the remember of reminiscences for more mature persons to style-dependent representations of digital file down load, foreseeable future foodstuff technologies could give a wide range of choices, say researchers.

These novel apps for potential human-food stuff interaction systems are imagined as portion of a lately released examine by a group of Human-Pc Interaction scientists from Lancaster University and Dovetailed Ltd. Their paper explores preceding investigation into systems and food items, and identifies new avenues for foreseeable future exploration.

Other concepts incorporate digital avatars that curate additional aware dining experiences, flavor representations of feelings that can be exchanged by passionate couples, or smart tableware that encourages healthful taking in by prompting diners to slow down their chewing speeds.

The researchers undertook a systematic literature assessment of 109 academic papers hunting at systems and foods, and they also carried out interviews with 18 specialist chefs to find out additional about novel imaginative approaches the chefs use to improve eating ordeals.

The review looked at the sensory, emotional, cognitive, and social elements of having activities, as perfectly as insights from the chefs about the use of flavors and emotion, effectiveness, the relevance of sensory deprivation as very well as stimulation, and cultural factors about meals.

As perfectly as exploring new avenues of human-meals interaction investigation, the investigate team designed a conceptual framework for developing new flavor and user experiences, which will be of use to the human-laptop or computer interaction investigation group.

Professor Corina Sas, of Lancaster University and co-author of the paper, claimed, “A selection of technological innovation has been investigated and formulated about meals, from digital probes that promote flavor, to energy counting apps. Our research requires inventory of current food stuff know-how investigate, and by interviews with skilled chefs, we recognize new parts for scientists and designers to check out where new technologies could enrich our experiences all over meals.

“There is a large amount of opportunity for systems close to food stuff to support elicit emotions, aid memory recall, support storytelling and support regulate healthful feeding on behaviors, for case in point.”

Dr. Tom Gayler, co-creator of the study, reported, “This perform not only can help realize the strategies food items can be utilised right now with the systems we by now know about, but also offers tips for new encounters and new technological options.

“This paper supplies style equipment for anyone intrigued in food items, ingesting, and the physique to use, serving to them develop richer and far more partaking interactions.”

The study is outlined in the paper “Exploring the Layout Area for Human-Food stuff-Technological innovation Conversation: An Method from the Lens of Feeding on Experiences’ which has been printed by ACM Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction.

The paper’s authors are Dr. Tom Gayler, previously of Lancaster University, Professor Corina Sas, Lancaster University, and Vaiva Kalnikaité of Dovetailed Ltd.