Study into the VR consumer experience with Ainia

The challenge: Bridging the gap between the neutral laboratory and real-world use

Food consumption is a multimodal experience in which the environment directly influences the sensory perception of the product. However, traditional sensory tests are usually carried out in laboratories with completely neutral environments to avoid bias. This decontextualisation creates a gap that reduces the predictive value regarding how the customer will actually respond in the market.

The challenge was to faithfully recreate the contextual variables without compromising the rigorous control of laboratory experimentation. AINIA needed a technological solution capable of immersing users in real-life tasting scenarios, ensuring that consumers remained fully engaged from start to finish whilst evaluating the product interactively.

AINIA

A leading technology centre in Europe specialising in R&D&I for the agri-food sector and consumer research.

Health

Verónica Trapero
Project Technician – Sensory Research and Continuous Improvement

The tool developed by Innoarea meets the established requirements and has made it possible to overcome the initial limitations. (…) Virtual reality is a technological solution that can be applied to the industrial sector in the field of sensory research to support the development and improvement of products more effectively.

Experiencia de consumo en realidad virtual

The solution: A virtual reality app for consumer simulations

XR Showroom

As part of the ERDF CONTEXT project, we at Innoarea have developed Ainia Consumer, a virtual reality app designed for the PICO G2 4K Enterprise headsets. The app transports the user to four real-life settings filmed in 360° (such as a restaurant, a terrace or a kitchen) with immersive sound via headphones. It also utilises the headset’s external RGB camera to allow the customer to interact with the physical food in a completely natural way without leaving the virtual environment.

The solution seamlessly integrates the evaluation questionnaire into the immersive setting itself. This allows consumers to answer questions about the product in real time using intuitive controls whilst tasting the food, creating a seamless, continuous experience with extremely high predictive accuracy without interrupting the flow of the tasting.

High-definition video combined with surround sound to simulate real-life environments in which products are used
It allows the user to see the food product in their hands and consume it safely
Evaluation form embedded within the virtual world itself, to be completed intuitively during the tasting
Simple controls and optimised navigation so that consumers of all types can interact naturally

Key findings

The implementation of the solution developed by Innoarea has enabled AINIA to validate the Context Methodology through trials with leading companies in the food sector, such as Consum, Caiba, Helados Estiu, Importaco and Velarte. By simulating everyday scenarios in a controlled laboratory environment, the tool enhances the ability to distinguish between products and provides brands with data of much greater predictive value prior to each product launch.

This technology significantly reduces the margin of error and the financial risk involved in launching a new product onto the market. By combining the scientific rigour of sensory analysis with the contextual realism of virtual reality, AINIA has established itself as a pioneering centre for the transfer of methodological innovation to the agri-food industry.