Convey emotions is the aim of all artistic creation and, so far, the books had gotten the word art, but, thanks to a prototype created at MIT, will be possible to transmit physical sensations such as heat or cold, or recreate environments through changes in lighting.
It’s called Sensory Fiction and so far, it’s just a prototype, but opens the door to what, in the future, could be sensory immersion in the world of books. To achieve this, researchers have created a book that accompanies connected to a wearable device, namely, a vest that integrates multiple sensors. The book portrays the landscape and sets the mood (through LED lights), while the jacket allows you to experience the natural emotions of the protagonist.
To change atmospheres and scenes of the play and the protagonist is having physical changes, the wearable device detects changes that occur, whether heartbeat, differences in pressure or temperature, and plays it to the reader to have those same feelings. Researchers have implemented their experiment with the play “The girl who was plugged in” by James Tiptree and have provided a number of sensations will experience the reader, as the deep love or a terrible despair, accompanied by a sense of freedom to sun and captivity in a damp, dark basement.
Technically, the book includes 150 programmable LEDs, which are responsible for creating ambient light based on configuration changes and moods of the book, sound, devices to raise the temperature and this can be felt through the skin, vibrators to transmit changes in heart rate and a compression system that conveys the feeling of tension or relaxation.
At the moment it is far from its marketing, but it is a first step to bring physical sensations to the world of books and get the sensory immersion.