Last year, Motorola received a patent for a "Smellphone" interface. I am sure there must be researchers at Universities that have been looking into using scent for computer-human interactions, but this is the first I have heard of this type of interface. We have used sight, hearing and touch for computer interactions for years. Why not scent?

On seeing this story, my first reaction is that I would not want someone, for example a Web site, controlling what I smell. However, others controlling what I smell happens all the time. Scent has been used to market products for years. Who has not been overwhelmed by the smell of fresh baked cookies when walking past a Mrs. Fields at the mall? Marketers have quietly created scents meant to evoke targeted feelings in customers who enter their stores. So again, why not a smelling based UI for computers?

As with stores, scent could be used by Web sites to market their goods. Starbucks.com and Peets.com could have the powerful smell of their blend of coffee when you visited their pages.

Scent could also be used in communication. When a girlfriend calls, the user could receive a whiff of her perfume. Or perhaps, emoticons could be embedded with scents meant to evoke feelings of love, anger, joy, etc.

It seems like scents would primarily be used as low level instead of primary feedback. It would take quite a while for a smell emanating from your pocket [insert chuckle here] to alert you that you had a phone call. It seems more likely that a scent could be used to enhance an experience or provide ongoing feedback about the state of the system.

Certainly there is plenty of room for jokes about how smells could be used, but there is real promise for accessibility interfaces and computer interactions when sight, sound and touch may not be available or appropriate.

Labels: alternative ui, mobile, ue research