Creepy metaverse users could soon have the power to lunge in for a kiss thanks to new tech.

As if the metaverse wasn’t bad enough with seedy strip clubs and naked avatars, experts want to take the realism a step further.

Scientists have created a device that brings a feeling sensation to the mouth, lips and tongue.

They pulled it off by adding a load of special ultrasonic transducers to a VR headset.

At the moment, the metaverse and VR is largely focused on 360 visuals, sound and hand controls.

Although experts don’t show how it could be used to kiss, you can imagine how it might become a popular use case for virtual lovers.

Instead, they demonstrate the technology being used in various scenarios, such as a haunted adventure game with spiders.

Testers felt sensations on their lips as they walked through webs, creepy crawlers jumped up at their face, and even a sensory feeling from exploding spiders when you shoot them.

Other use cases mimic the sensation from drinking at a water fountain, sipping a coffee, brushing your teeth and even smoking a cigarette.

The clever tech is capable of simulating swipes and vibrations in and around your mouth that you would associate with each activity.

“Haptics boosts realism and immersion, and heightens user reactions,” researchers from Carnegie Mellon University said.

“Although we demonstrated a range of haptic effects, the
vocabulary of sensations is still limited compared to that of the real
world (a high bar).

“That said, it is roughly comparable to that of vibration motors in handheld controllers and many mobile phones, but with more spatial expressivity.

“Nonetheless, we believe VR/AR systems should strive for greater realism, and future work is necessary to expand upon our work.”

This story originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced here with permission.