A team of researchers at the University of Bristol, UK, has created a device that enables its users to touch and feel three-dimensional holograms in thin air.
Ultrasound is focused to create the shape of a virtual sphere. Image credit: © Bristol Interaction and Graphics group, University of Bristol.
“Touchable holograms, immersive virtual reality that you can feel and complex touchable controls in free space, are all possible ways of using this system,” said Dr Ben Long, the first author of the paper published in the journal ACM Transactions on Graphics .
The method developed by Dr Long and his colleagues uses ultrasound, which is focused onto hands above the device and that can be felt. By focusing complex patterns of ultrasound, the air disturbances can be seen as floating three-dimensional shapes. Read more