Tactile interface that displays volumetric 3D-objects

We live in an era with a touchscreen interface. Do you wonder what will happen to them in the future?

The Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology believe that the future of the "tactile" interface. And set up a screen that changes shape in three dimensions: it allows the user to not only interact with the object, but even to hold the hand of a man who is at this moment hundreds kilometers. It's only the beginning!

We created this project Leytinger Daniel and Sean Follmer, led by Professor Hiroshi Ishii. The technology underlying inFORM screen is not very complicated.

A layer of rods, each of which extends to a certain height creates a rough 3D-model of the object. The rods are connected to the wires and their position can be controlled directly from a computer. But abruptly, when a sensor Kinect «captures» 3D-image of the object and sends it to the InForm, which is composed of rods.

Accordingly, if the object moves, and it moves on the screen model. Thus it is possible even to interact with real objects and objects. For example, 3D-model of hands to play with a ball or a flick of the wrist to change the screen image.

Thanks to the projector is placed above InForm, formed a picture is painted in different colors and can be illuminated from different angles.

"Tactile" interfaces - this is no longer the distant future, and the most that neither is present. A couple of years, and these screens are commonly used to show the landscape patterns and architectural forms, building a visual display of graphs and CT scans.

How do you?