Blog Post

Alibaba Releases Curious Video on Multi-Sensory Shopping

Sim Wan Yong • September 2, 2019

On the 28th of June 2019, Alibaba Group released a video capturing the possibility of multi-sensory shopping experience in the future.

It's possible to conclude that Refinity Tech is a new technology being researched and developed in collaboration with Alibaba DAMO Academy & DAMO Natural Human-Computer Interaction Lab.

There isn't much other information available yet, but with the demo only released earlier this year, Refinity could take a while before it becomes a consistent shopping reality!

Take a look at the video below:

Video transcript as below:

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Refinity - The new sensory experience that makes shopping come alive.
To create a sensory experience Refinity employs auto-stereoscopic objects riven by ultrasound haptic displays.

Start Refinity: Simply point to a product to bring it forward.

Water pressure & Warmth: Mid-air haptic and thermal feedback simulate different water settings from raindrops to airy.

Scent & sound: The scent generator creates a pleasant aroma while Refinity plays the object's sound to simulate the fresh scent and soothing sound of water drops. Push back to put the product back.

3 Interaction: As the user interacts with the mid-air 3D faucet, feel the water while interacting with the flow of the waterflow. Swipe to view another product.

A Sensory experience: Experience the scent of the bubble bath wile feeling the warmth and pressure of the water jets.

3D Interior Views: Lean forward for an inside look at the internal heating system. Refinity provides the cutaway view.

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Alibaba DAMO Academy has also released a demo video showing how this technology is utilized. Their demo publication is also published here at ACM DL Digital Library shortly before the video was released, on the 2nd of May 2019.

Even as a research project, Refinty does appear to be an interesting futuristic shopping experience should it be a form of reality in the future.

Who knows how our shopping experience could be evolving next?

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