This might conflict with the display safety guidelines

Apr 1, 2013 09:56 GMT  ·  By

Assuming this isn't an April Fools' joke of some kind, we might actually be looking at a TV that produces smell in addition to video and sound.

Japanese researchers at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology revealed a new project during the IEEE Virtual Reality Conference.

This project is a television set that uses four corner-mounted fans to produce whatever scent the user would be able to feel if they were inside the virtual reality of whatever video, game or image is on display.

Vapors fed through the four airflows are merged and adjusted in a way that even tricks viewers into thinking the scent comes from a specific area of the screen.

We can only wonder how the technology will fit in when safety guidelines for using a monitor or TV state the eyes should be about 50 centimeters away.