Qi Lu, Wan Liang, Hao Wu, Hoiian Wong, Haipeng Mi, and Yingqing Xu. 2020. Exploring Potential Scenarios and Design Implications Through a Camera-like Physical Odor Capture Prototype. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS ’20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 2021–2033.

Abstract

Recently, researchers have become increasingly interested in finding new input methods for olfactory interfaces. Physical odor capture is a potential solution to this issue and, in order to make it more accessible for users, we designed a portable and fast smell capture prototype based on headspace technology and inspired by point-and-shoot cameras. We conducted a two-week diary study with 13 participants, in which they were allowed to freely use the prototype for odor capture activities. Through diary and interview feedback, we summarized factors such as the motivations of capturing, the collected odor types, and perceptual effects of odor replay. We found that the capture activities can positively affect user emotions, memory, or perception. User preferences on device parameters were also gathered to guide further design iterations. Physical odor capture has many potential applications in daily-life and other implications resulting from the study have been proposed for further research.