A Multisensory eXtended Reality Platform for Food Spoilage Detection

Food spoilage is a pervasive issue with significant implications for public health, economic stability, and environmental sustainability. Addressing food spoilage is essential to promoting healthier living, reducing economic waste, and ensuring sustainable practices. When storing food in refrigerators, it would be crucial to monitor at least factors such as temperature, humidity, and signs of spoilage to ensure food quality and safety. The paper presents a concept for a smart fridge equipped with sensors to monitor critical factors such as temperature, humidity, and spoilage indicators. These sensors collect real-time data, which can be visualized through a multisensory eXtended Reality (XR) Digital Twin that provides a highly realistic 3D visualization of the real fridge, incorporating dynamic temperature simulations represented through 3D color maps and an olfactory simulation that replicates the smell of rotten food. The first impressions of the Multisensory XR Digital Twin emphasize its effectiveness in bridging the gap between raw data and user perception, allowing for an immersive interaction with the fridge as if physically present. Key benefits identified include enhanced spatial awareness and realism, multisensory feedback, and greater user engagement.