In situ Simulation of Thermal Reality

Abstract

Simulated reality encompasses virtual, augmented, and mixed realities—each characterized by different degrees of truthfulness in the visual perception: “all false,” “coexistence of true and false,” and “difficult distinction between true and false,” respectively. In all these technologies, however, the temperature rendering of virtual objects is still an unsolved problem. Undoubtedly, the lack of thermal tactile functions substantially reduces the quality of the user’s real-experience perception. To address this challenge, we propose theoretically and realize experimentally a technological platform for the in situ simulation of thermal reality. To this purpose, we design a thermal metadevice consisting of a reconfigurable array of radiating units, capable of generating the thermal image of any virtual object, and thus rendering it in situ together with its thermal signature. This is a substantial technological advance, which opens up new possibilities for simulated reality and its applications to human activities.