你的好友發來一杯假的檸檬水,嚐嚐不?

Remember how far-fetched lifelike robots and self-driving cars used to sound? Now, they're a reality. And thanks to new research, there's another seemingly improbable technology that's come to life: teleporting a drink. Earlier this month, researchers out of the National University of Singapore and Georgia Institute of Technology presented a method for creating "virtual lemonade."

還記得人工智能和自動駕駛汽車曾經聽起來有多遙遠嗎？而如今它們都成爲了現實。多虧了一項新的研究，另外一種看似不可思議的技術誕生了：遠程傳送飲料。本月早些時候，新加坡國立大學和佐治亞理工學院的研究人員提出了一種創造“虛擬檸檬水”的方法。

Let's say you can't make it to your cousin's summer shindig, but Granny's going to be there making her beloved lemonade. No worries. Using the researchers' method, Granny could send you some of the beverage simply by mounting and submerging an RGB color sensor and pH sensor in a glass of her lemonade. (Color affects the drinker's flavor perceptions, and pH affects the drink's acidity.) The "taste messaging" would then occur via Bluetooth communication, when a control module sends the color and sourness information to a custom tumbler you'll soon be sipping Granny's refreshing lemonade out of.

假設你無法參加表妹的夏季聚會，但你的外婆又會在聚會上製作她最拿手的檸檬水。不用擔心，只要外婆依照研究人員的辦法，在她製作的一杯檸檬水中安裝一個 RGB顏色傳感器和一個 pH 傳感器（顏色會影響飲酒者的味覺感知，pH值影響飲料的酸度），就可以將檸檬水傳送給你。一個控制模件會通過藍牙通信將顏色信息和酸度信息發送到一個定製玻璃杯上，讓你很快品嚐到外婆製作的清爽檸檬水。

But you, the virtual lemonade receiver, are actually drinking a cup full of plain H2O. The special tumbler has a rim of silver electrodes that serve as a sourness simulator, giving off 800-Hz pulses to tempt your taste buds. An LED (light-emitting diode) device at the bottom of the tumbler gives off a mini light show by diffusing color through the water. You'll only be drinking water, but you'll experience simulated lemonade flavors. So, mind over matter?

但實際上，你喝的是一杯白水。這種特殊的玻璃杯有一圈銀電極充當酸性模擬器，該電極會發出800赫茲的脈衝來衝擊你的味蕾。玻璃杯底部的 LED裝置上演一場微型燈光秀，讓顏色在水中擴散。你喝到的只是水，但會嚐到模擬的檸檬水味道。這就叫心勝於物？

Researchers gave 12 different real and virtual lemonades to 13 participants. The team used tasteless food coloring agents to make the real lemonades green, cloudy and yellow, and LED lights to color the virtual lemonades similarly.

研究人員給13名參與者12種不同的檸檬水（既有真的，也有虛擬的）。研究小組使用無味食物着色劑讓真正的檸檬水變成綠色、渾濁和黃色，他們也用LED 燈讓虛擬檸檬水變成相似的顏色。

Participants reported the real lemonade tasted sourer than the virtual. But overall, there were no statistically significant differences in their perceptions of real and virtual flavors, so teleporting lemonade could turn out to be a sweet deal. The team hopes this study leads to further analyses, like extending virtual flavor technologies for multisensory interactions like toasting drinks, or even sharing digital signatures of beverages stored in a virtual cloud.

參與者反饋，真正的檸檬水比虛擬的檸檬水更酸一點。但總的來說，數據統計顯示，他們對真正的檸檬水和虛擬檸檬水的感受沒有顯著區別。結果證明，遠程傳送檸檬水確實可行。研究小組希望這項研究能更進一步，將這種虛擬味覺技術擴展到多感官交互，比如敬酒，甚至還可以分享存儲在雲盤裏的虛擬飲料數據。