The Internet of Senses (IoS) is one of the new technologies that will take over and transform our lives over the next decade. IoS is about using the brain as an interface to exchange the cognitive senses with users. The technology will "dilute" the interface between physical and digital experiences, and will be capable of receiving input directly from the mind and delivering something in the form of senses with little or physical effort.
The Internet of Senses will be enabled by technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), 5G and Automation, to interact with our senses: sight, sound, taste, smell and touch. Consumers who are former users of new technologies predict that, by 2030, screen-based experiences will increasingly compete with multisensory experiences which will become almost inseparable from reality.
IoS will be able to eliminate most Human-Machine Interface (HMI) devices, such as keyboards, mice, joysticks, and touch-based user interfaces. Interactions with the senses will definitely be based on advanced Augmented Reality (AR) glasses for visual assistance. Ericsson ConsumerLabs say that half of the world's smartphone users predict that everyone will be wearing some form of Augmented Reality (AR) glasses by 2025. This is a trend that could take over as early as 2023. This type of glasses could also replace smartphones as a primary device.
There will be many potential applications which will be useful for organisations, particularly in areas such as manufacturing and health. These areas will take things to a whole new level and make this combination of the virtual and actual universes as natural as possible. Within the field of health, for example, doctors will be able to monitor patients and provide care remotely. Other potential applications including enabling people to hug friends and family hundreds of miles away, and enabling businesses to hold virtual meetings without any delays, where physical participants are in different places and everyone meets in a virtual room.
Experts predict that, by 2030, the technology will enable a myriad of new applications, improving the performance of existing applications. However, there is still a long way to go before the Internet of Senses becomes a reality, and there are many challenges to still to be overcome.
Transmitting and receiving all our senses will require considerable bandwidth and a high degree of synchronisation between the different data streams. We will need much more bandwidth and capacity than 5G is able to provide at present; we will need 3D audio; and we will also need to develop a way of transmitting the other senses.
At Cegal, we do not work directly with the Internet of Senses at present, but we have many consultants within the field of AI technology.