AwakenFlora: Exploring Proactive Smell Experience in Virtual Reality through Mid-Air Gestures

We explored mid-air gestural interactions for proactive smell experiences in Virtual Reality (VR). With a wearable scent-delivery device, a set of gestures that interact with virtual objects are mapped to corresponding olfactory tasks, i.e., scent release, scent intensity adjustment, and scent switch. We conducted a user study for preliminary validation, revealing significant advantages of gestural interactions over the traditional handle controller for scent release. Our findings demonstrate the potential of gestural interactions in enhancing proactive smell experiences in VR and contribute insights into how proactive gestural input can benefit engaging olfactory experiences in virtual environments.