New reality: Invisible 3D holograms that can be touched and felt - Immersive, highly visual, 3D environments are now on the horizon after British scientists managed to recreate mid-air sensory experiences by controlling sound waves to project 3-D haptic holograms that can be seen and felt. -A team from the University of Bristol Interaction and Graphics research group, using the UltraHaptics, a system for creating haptic feedback in mid-air, were successful in testing several shapes, including spheres and pyramids. -“Touchable holograms, immersive virtual reality that you can feel and complex touchable controls in free space are all possible ways of using this system,” Dr Ben Long, Research Assistant from the Bristol Interaction and Graphics (BIG) group in the Department of Computer Science, said. -In a short time span the researchers managed to leap from simple 2- D outline in mid-air to full shapes, by introducing a LeapMotion which tracks the position of a users hands. Then the waves are calibrated to produce projection which, to human touch, feels like different objects of varying shapes. Users can feel 3-D projected objects, get feedback for mid-air gestures and interact with virtual shapes.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 14:56:45 +0000