Technological advances have not only made our lives easier, but also made entertainment, like gaming, more immersive. As we wait on the edge of our seat to see if hover boards and ray guns will become a reality, more practical, if less glitzy, breakthroughs are being made. For example, a team of researchers at the University of Bristol's Department of Computer Science has invented a new method of haptic feedback using ultrasound with the ability to produce 3D shapes that can be touched in mid-air.
The complex patterns of the ultrasound can be focused onto hands placed above the device, which causes air disturbances rendered as 3D shapes that users can feel on their skin. The shapes are actually invisible but researchers have enabled the patterns to appear by using a thin layer of oil. The corresponding video shows this technology in action, creating multiple shapes and rotations on the surface of the oil. The 3D shapes that are created with the ultrasound can be added to 3D displays and can also match a picture of a 3D shape to one previously created by the system.
Dr Ben Long, research assistant from the Bristol Interaction and Graphics (BIG) group in the Department of Computer Science, says some of the possible uses for the system are “touchable holograms, immersive virtual reality” and “touchable controls in free space.” This new breakthrough can also be used by surgeons during a CT scan that allows them to feel a disease, like a tumor, using haptic feedback.
The study can be found online in the ACM Transactions on Graphics journal.
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