From sci-fi to science lab: Holograms you can 'feel'
From sci-fi to science lab:
Holograms you can 'feel'
Walking, talking holograms have
been a staple of sci-fi films since Princess Leia was magically brought to life
in "Star Wars".
Writing in the journal Nature,
a team at the University of Sussex in southern England, said technology
currently in use can create 3-D images but they are slow, short-lived and
"most importantly, rely on operating principles that cannot produce
tactile and auditive content as well".
To fill in the picture, so to speak, the team created a
prototype called Multimodal Acoustic Trap Display (MATD) which "can
simultaneously deliver visual, auditory and tactile content".
This uses what is known as "acoustophoresis"—sound waves that
move and manipulate an object, in this case particles—to form an image in a
small box containing arrays of very small speakers.
"Our system traps a particle acoustically and illuminates
it with red, green and blue light to control its colour as it quickly scans the
display volume," the team said.
Since the system is based on sound waves, it allows the hologram
to be heard and even felt.
One of the scientists, Ryuji Hirayama, explained how this last
feature—so crucial to making the object seem real—works.
"Even if not audible to us, ultrasound is still a
mechanical wave and it carries energy through the air. Our system directs and
focuses this energy, which can then stimulate your skin to feel content,"
Hirayama told AFP by email.
"The feeling of the tactile sensation is like a gently
spraying your hand with pressurised air."
The system obviously attracts attention because of the science
fiction film backdrop but the team said it could have a wide range of
applications, from computing to biomedical procedures.
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