UV_TASTE is a wearable mouth piece that takes UV light and translates it into taste on the tongue of the user. Ultra Violet Radiation is is a phenomena that occurs outside of a humans natural perception range, it is manifested as a wave which frequency is above violet color; the highest frequency perceived by the human eye. This object augments the human body and overlays on the user a new sensory input; it allows him/her to perceive the unperceived; it raises awareness on a natural invisible phenomena that affects our lives without being noticed.

FIRST EXPERIMENT AND PROGRESS

With this first simple experiment we analysed what kind of taste we could create giving different amount of voltages to the tongue. We used an Arduino UNO and wires. we gave 0 to 5 volts and the main taste felt was sweet. The results showed that the generated taste (kind of sweet) didn’t change as a taste in just vary its intensity.

Initial Tests and Experiments

Attempt of building a first  heat pad

Technical Diagram of the taste simulator————————————————————

THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF THE TASTES THAT WE ARE EXPERIMENTING WITH AND SOME OF THE VARIABLES INVOLVED IN THE SIMULATION. (THIS LIST IS BASED ON THE RESEARCH: Digital Taste Synthesizer for Ubiquitous Taste Interactions – By: Nimesha Ranasinghe)

////// SOUR //////

// Magnitude of current from 60 micro-amp to 180 micro-amp

// Temperature increasing from 20°c to 30°c

I1 = 60 micro-amps / 1,000,000 = 0.00006 amps

I2 = 180 micro-amps / 1,000,000 = 0.00018 amps

R = V / I

R1 = 5 volts / 0.00006 amps = 83,333 ohm = 83 kohm = 0.083 megaohm

R2 = 5 volts / 0.00018 amps = 27,778 ohm = 27 kohm = 0.027 megaohm

////// SALTY //////

// Magnitude of current from 60 micro-amp to 50 micro-amp (low frequencies)

I1 = 50 micro-amps / 1,000,000 = 0.00005 amps

R = V / I

R1 = 5 volts / 0.00005 amps = 100,000 ohm = 100 kohm = 0.01 megaohm

///// BITTER /////

// Magnitude of current from 60 micro-amp to 140 micro-amp (noticeably from the bottom surface of the tongue)

I1 = 60 micro-amps / 1,000,000 = 0.00006 amps

I2 = 140 micro-amps / 1,000,000 = 0.00014 amps

R = V / I

R1 = 5 volts / 0.00006 amps = 83,333 ohm = 83 kohm = 0.083 megaohm

R2 = 5 volts / 0.00014 amps = 35,714 ohm = 36 kohm = 0.036 megaohm

////// SWEET //////

// Inverted current

// Temperature increased to 35°c and continuous decrease from 35°c to 25°c (during the transition continuous exposure is required)

———————————————————————————–

LIST OF COMPONENTS TO USE IN THE NEXT ITERATION

ATtiny85 microcontroller

Silver Electrodes

USB aroma to be hacked for obtaining heat pad

Heat-sink

website: www.fitosegrera.com

Born October 15th 1983 in Cartagena, Colombia, fito_segrera is a New York based contemporary artist whose work focuses on new technologies and digital media. Since he graduated as a Technologist in audiovisual and Multimedia production and fine artist at the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University of Bogotá, his creative practice has focused on problematizing around topics such as: the origin of virtual worlds and their effect on real life understanding, the avatar as an extension of the human body and how it acts upon the construction of identity, man-machine integration, transhumanism and wearable technology.  His main exhibitions are: COLLISION 20 Boston Ciberarts Gallery 2014, Huston International Performance Biennale 2014, SXSW Austin TX 2014, EYEBEAM New York 2013, AGORA COLLECTIVE CENTER Berlin 2013, Dorkbot NYC 2013, Harvestworks New York 2013, La residencia Tunja 2012, Web 2.0 Espacios alternativos 2012, Ripping mix, burn, rip 2010, Bogotá Biennale 2009. Currently an international Fulbright Scholar and a candidate for an MFA in Design and Technology at Parsons, The New School, New York.