Tangible Display Makes 3D Touchable

moon_monkey writes "Researchers in Japan have developed a display that makes 3D objects solid enough to grasp. The system, created by engineers at Japan's NTT, combines a 3D display with a haptic glove, making 3D items that look real but also feel solid to touch. Two cameras are used to image an object, to make the 3D image. A computer also uses this to render a solid representation. It could be used to inspect products remotely, or even to shake hands with someone on the other side of the world, the researchers say."

How long until this is in the home?

[jandrese]

I think porn manufacturers just popped a woody. Making it feel "real" is probably a long way off though, especially for home use.

Old news

[Scutter]

I remember using a haptic glove like this at Comdex like 10 years ago. The display wasn't 3D, but other than that, it was essentially the same thing. The glove had force-feedback motors in each fingertip and when you grasped one of the objects on the screen, they provided tactile feedback representing mass, weight, and to a much lesser extent, texture. In the demonstration, you had to stack blocks of varying types. Very simplistic, but also very very cool. I always wondered where the tech went since I never saw it again after that.

Non-pr0n applications

[Actually, I do RTFA]

So, I'm the 14th person to comment, so I'm 14 people too late to point out the pr0n application. So here's a few nifty, but not dirty, uses:

1. Music lessons on the computer.
2. Virtual keyboard/mouse. Hey, that portable computer just became a lot closer.
3. Controlling robots.

Shoot, I'm sorry, I'm too excited about the pr0n application. Will these gloves be waterproof for easy cleaning?

Does it work this time?

[Animats]

This idea goes back a long way. I think it was first tried in the 1970s, using the input end of a remote manipulator arm intended for handling radioactive material. It's been done dozens of times since then. The problem is doing it well.

We have enough compute power now to get the lag down to a few milliseconds, which was a big problem ten years ago. Then it's mostly a mechanical design problem. Most of the devices so far were too clunky. Is this one better?

Re:How long until this is in the home?

[Wicko]

I will be the first person to ever receive a vjob.

3d modeling.

[jshriverWVU]

Add support in blender or Maya and I'll be a happy camper. I've always wish there was a way of creating 3d models via a virtual 3d sphere that you could pull, and mold into an object vs doing it with a mouse and keyboard.

Re:How long until this is in the home?

[Have Brain Will Rent]

> Then we'll be reading stories about people who die of starvation because they were so caught up in their cybersex world There was a story like this in the late 60's except it wasn't just cyber sex but people in telepresence/VR couches at living out the second lives at the cost of their first lives. I can still remember the description of a scene where this guy breaks into a house and finds mountains of cartons of commercial crap (e.g. "fizzy cola" and stuff you'd find on the shopping channel) ordered on-line by the now dead user still wired into her couch...

eerily prescient book... so was the Shockwave Rider http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shockwave_Rider [wikipedia.org]. Stand On Zanzibar and The Sheep Look Up books written in the 70's by John Brunner... he predicted a lot of of stuff very accurately including network worms etc.