A few days ago, I was sitting in one of the authentic Bahraini cafes, sipping a red tea, and following a young man trying to take the Wi -Fi signal from the distant corner, raising his phone as someone trying to hunt a lost homing bath. I looked at him with a smile, and I asked myself: “This is our case with Wi -Fi today, so how will we be if we have what is known as” Internet of Senses “?
The truth is that just thinking about this idea raises laughter more than following the series “Tafash”. Imagine, dear reader, that you open your phone in the future and enter the Instagram application and see a delicious plate of a chef, so you feel its smell on the screen! If we are now hungry to see the image, what will we do if the screens start to broadcast the smells directly to us? There is no doubt that healthy diet lovers will file compensation claims against the owners of accounts that have caused them psychological damage and an irresistible smell.
The worse and most strange to reach the “virtual touch” stage. Imagine that you are sitting in a virtual meeting online, and your manager decides to shake your hands away. Instead of traditional handshake, you will wear smart gloves that convey the sense of the manager’s hand. The problem occurs if your manager is a little angry, pressed your hand strongly, so how will you explain to your family members the cause of your pain and screaming in front of the computer screen?
Most importantly, the sensory internet needs a high -speed and stability network, and not our network that sometimes surprises us with interruption while watching an important match or while offering a remote presentation. Frankly, if we really want to apply this technology, we may need a specialized engineer to stand constantly beside the Internet distribution device to ensure that the speed will not suddenly decline without warning, turning an amazing sensory experience into an unforgettable moment!
A sensory internet is an ambitious future concept that refers to the next generation of Internet experiences, where the five human senses are involved and perhaps feelings also in digital interaction. Today, our communication via the Internet is limited to the senses of looking and hearing, but the sensory internet aspires to add the sense of touch, smell and taste to the digital experience, so that the virtual worlds are merged with reality in an unpopular way.
Globally, the sensory internet is still in the initial experimental stage, and Ericsson expected its appearance within the techniques of the sixth generation (6G) by 2030. It is strange that researchers from the University of Tokyo developed a screen that can be licking to feel the flavor of the displayed food, and I do not think any of us is ready for people to see him licking his phone in the cafe or office!
But in our local reality, we are still struggling to persuade some entities that email is more efficient than printed papers, and that digital services shorten us to stand in the queues in the sun. Before we dream of an internet, he transmits the smells of food, I hope that we can install the Wi -Fi signal, so that we do not have to suspend phones on the windows as we were doing with the dishes of receiving satellite channels “shower” in the 1990s.
Perhaps the future carries funny surprises, such as applications that send us a virtual food that needs a “anti -virus” of a new kind that protects us from expired digital foods! Until then, let’s enjoy our current Internet despite its fluctuations.
* Technical expert
