Scentient, a two-person startup, is a company that intends to incorporate smell into the VR experience. But far from being some novelty or far-flung fad or a rich frivolity, Founder Anastasia Georgievskaya and Partner Ivan Novikov have plans which could see it revolutionise a critical sector of society.

THE START OF SCENTIENT

Scentient really is a startup in the sense it started only in October 2021, making it less than two years old. But don’t be fooled into thinking it’s not developed. No, Georgievskaya has been mulling the idea since 2016. “It was a few years ago. We had this conversation whether we can send smells from one device to another, and it kind of escalated quickly and moved from philosophical to technical quite quickly,” Georgievskaya said.

Having studied biomedical sciences with a specialty in immunology from Brunel University, and then, working a number of years in neuroscience and immunology, she moved on from her musings on smell and put it into action and started Scentient.

As earlier mentioned, smell remained a largely unengaged part of the VR experience. Georgievskaya believed this was because: “direct to consumer market is not really ready for any other peripheral devices on top of all the VR setup.” Yet her background in the sciences taught her how important things like smell are for a real perceptive experience, and she knew there was a place for it in the sphere. Georgievskaya explains: “The VR people were doing everything they can to make the experience more immersive, but were focusing mostly on physical sensations. But smell is one of the most important senses for gauging our environment because it is processed in the olfactory cortex, where we form emotions for memories and our survival instincts are triggered,” said Georgievskaya. “So virtual training, having only audio-visual inputs, is not enough to kind of create a full picture of immersion for the training.” These circumstances lead her to one market that would later become Scentient’s main focus: emergency services.

Police, Firefighters, and especially the army, have been some of the earliest institutionalised adopters of simulation and VR experiences to train their staff. This is often because the situations they need to train for are usually quite laborious, idiosyncratic, and even dangerous; therefore, training based purely on live rehearsals is impractical and even impossible. Yet the training they do supplement with experiences, like with VR, needs to be as accurate as possible to enable efficient and accurate training. That’s what Sentient sees as it’s place to improve. “Adding smell to the trainees simulated VR training, I think is essential,” says Georgievskaya. “It allows the recreation of scenarios that were not otherwise possible with traditional VR; for instance, introducing a gas leak in a firefighter VR training so they can acquaint themselves with the smell, or a foul odour for a paramedic, who can condition their flight or fight response to it and push through.”

HARDWARE, SOFTWARE… SMELLWARE?

To solicit these scents designed to accompany VR experiences, Georgievskaya and her mechanical engineering-trained partner Novikov, designed both hardware and software to work in tandem. The hardware is a sleek, white device that sits like a towel over your neck after a shower. It has vents for air intake, and two holes facing up towards the head which spray the smells users have inserted via cartridge into the ends of the device. “The intensity of the smells can be controlled,” says Georgievskaya. “So for example, as the person is approaching the source of smell within a virtual experience like VR, they will be able to smell it more intensely.”

This hardware takes such prompts, such as smell intensity, from the software made alongside it. Rather than make scenarios, Scentient takes simulations that these services, such as the fire department, are already employing, and adds on the scent journey alongside the audio visual one already present.

Not only is the device technology agnostic, but its Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities mean that it can work in communion with a number of other connected devices at the same time, so team simulated trainings can all be experiencing the same smells at the same time.

GET SCENT, GO!

Although the startup is currently not at the stage of wider manufacture, that’s not to say Scentient is not set to get going. “We applied for the young innovators award, and we won,” says Georgievskaya. “A lot of support came with that programme, like we got an advisor for an entire year for two hours every week. Then last summer, we got into the central research laboratory accelerator, which is a hardware accelerator, one of the top in the country and even in Europe as well. For six months we had support from a product development team who helped us create the design of the device and make it into a product.”

With all the physical pieces coming into place, what are the next steps Scentient plans to take from here? “Our focus at the moment is to create traction and to begin working on projects,” says Georgievskaya. This will see Scentient further developing its Media Player VR app that works with the devices to solidify the experience. “Everything is kind of at a good stage currently, so the natural next step is for us to raise investment as well and more funding to grow as a team.” This ambition to further raise funds means Georgievskaya and Novikov will be organising demo days and attending shows, like the Emergency Services Show in Birmingham. So should you catch a glimpse, or smell, of them, then why not say hello and hear how scent could soon become part of the VR experience.

This article originally appeared in the Sept/Oct issue of Startups Magazine. Click here to subscribe.