Hologram-Like Device Animates Objects Using Ultrasound Waves (theguardian.com) 53
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Researchers in Southampton have built a device that displays 3D animated objects that can talk and interact with onlookers. A demonstration of the display showed a butterfly flapping its wings, a countdown spelled out by numbers hanging in the air, and a rotating, multicolored planet Earth. Beyond interactive digital signs and animations, scientists want to use it to visualize and even feel data. While the images are similar, the device is not the sort of holographic projector that allowed a shimmering Princess Leia to enlist Obi-Wan Kenobi's help in Star Wars. Instead, it uses a 3D field of ultrasound waves to levitate a polystyrene bead and whip it around at high speed to trace shapes in the air.
The 2mm-wide bead moves so fast, at speeds approaching 20mph, that it traces out the shape of an object in less than one-tenth of a second. At such a speed, the brain doesn't see the moving bead, only the completed shape it creates. The colors are added by LEDs built into the display that shine light on the bead as it zips around. Because the images are created in 3D space, they can be viewed from any angle. And by careful control of the ultrasonic field, the scientists can make objects speak, or add sound effects and musical accompaniments to the animated images. Further manipulation of the sound field enables users to interact with the objects and even feel them in their hands. "The images are created between two horizontal plates that are studded with small ultrasonic transducers," reports The Guardian. "These create an inaudible 3D sound field that contains a tiny pocket of low pressure air that traps the polystyrene bead. Move the pocket around, by tweaking the output of the transducers, and the bead moves with it."
In the journal Nature, researchers describe how they've improved the display to produce sounds and tactile responses to people reaching out to the image.
The 2mm-wide bead moves so fast, at speeds approaching 20mph, that it traces out the shape of an object in less than one-tenth of a second. At such a speed, the brain doesn't see the moving bead, only the completed shape it creates. The colors are added by LEDs built into the display that shine light on the bead as it zips around. Because the images are created in 3D space, they can be viewed from any angle. And by careful control of the ultrasonic field, the scientists can make objects speak, or add sound effects and musical accompaniments to the animated images. Further manipulation of the sound field enables users to interact with the objects and even feel them in their hands. "The images are created between two horizontal plates that are studded with small ultrasonic transducers," reports The Guardian. "These create an inaudible 3D sound field that contains a tiny pocket of low pressure air that traps the polystyrene bead. Move the pocket around, by tweaking the output of the transducers, and the bead moves with it."
In the journal Nature, researchers describe how they've improved the display to produce sounds and tactile responses to people reaching out to the image.
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Wow, late 19th century bullshit* meets 21st century progress (hologram). The mind boggles
*Nazism has it's roots in the eugenics and racial theory crap that was popular in the late 19th century
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To my knowledge SlashDot has never banned anyone or deleted posts (admittedly I've had some long hiatuses that I might have missed it happening). You missed the "joy" that was APK.
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I also never heard of /. banning people or removing posts or user accounts. And I have been a regular lurker and member since 1996 or so.
Re: Even Trump's JEW BANKER is Going to Prison (Score:2)
Ahmet would. (Score:3)
Someone should tell Ahmet Zappa about this.
He can tour HoloFrank with real Plastic People.
What I See When I Look at This Tech (Score:2)
At scale? The most intense roller coaster ever devised.
Video link (Score:4, Informative)
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Such a clever device soon to be made illegal by the Green police. Polystyrene doesn't recycle well. Could they substitute a tiny ball of dung?
Nothing recycles well, because nothing is currently being recycled. Unfortunately recycling is largely a myth.
https://www.wired.com/story/th... [wired.com]
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/0... [nytimes.com]
Not even the glass, often times they just crush it up and spread it over landfills (i guess that's technically recycled) :
https://www.google.com/search?... [google.com]
https://www.ecori.org/composti... [ecori.org]
This device is likely to receive little scrutiny from the recycling activists.
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Nothing recycles well, because nothing is currently being recycled. Unfortunately recycling is largely a myth.
I know what you mean, but: EVERYTHING's being recycled. You, me, everything we do and touch, ALL of it. Maybe not quite in the format and time-frame some people would like.
After all, there are still a few dinosaurs around (bones) after only "6,000 years". The pyramids are ~4,000 years old but not much of their support system remains. Instead of 100 days of automatic recycling, maybe we should start shooting for 100 decades instead. Paper was fairly good at that. Metal, not so much, and plastic, REA
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I bet you could substitute a perlite bead instead..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Re: It's really a shame . . . (Score:2)
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Recycling is only needed for things that are used once or twice. There's no reason to assume this bead would wear out and need to be replaced frequently, so for such a purpose, plastics are fine.
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I'm quite sure that my car will be recycled after its life, as will my house and many things in there. Even I will be recycled. But then again, I use myself only once in my life.
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Use grains or peas or quinoa then. Purely vegan too.
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PS recycles fine so long as it's clean, and you only want to make more peanuts out of it. But the "bead" probably isn't much different from a packing peanut.
First application outside of white tower: pr0n (Score:2)
To wit:
Re: First application outside of white tower: pr0n (Score:1)
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The Guardian article's been corrected now.
Clone it to get a view of the hologram (Score:2)
You're looking at Github from the wrong angle!
levitate a polystyrene bead and whip it around (Score:2)
It's currently located within a 10cm^3 cube -- where the bead must stay, of course. It's light, so not much inertia there, but what happens at the far limit of travel and a wind (AC vent / annoying kid) comes along? I wonder at what velocity it's currently knocked out? (Cue "Token Ring fell on the floor
Hearing loss (Score:2)
To move that bead around, those ultrasound transducers must be hella loud.
Simply because you lack the receptive range does not mean the sound is not there, damaging your ears.
Re: Hearing loss (Score:1)
Yeah, but... no. (Score:2)
Sound is not that simple.
You do still have secondary spots of constructive interference, often in weird places, due to the shape of the room etc.
Try mapping sound volume from said tweeter in your room in a 4x4x4in grid. I guarantee you, you will be surprised.
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What about the children? Won't somebody please think of them!
Re: Hearing loss (Score:2)
Re: Hearing loss (Score:1)
So, it's back (Score:1)
My brother saw something like this as a demo in a Chinese airport roughly 7 years ago and then never had seen it mentioned since. He thought it would take the world by storm in terms of games and mall ads.
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https://i.imgflip.com/3fzk34.j... [imgflip.com]
Dogs will just LOVE it! (Score:2)
Somehow they always forget about dogs.
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Imagine what will happen when a fly buzzes into that field
It would be hilarious!
Work (Score:2)
It's moving actual little styrofoam bits through the air and not laser-drawing onto a cloud.
This is a 3D version of something I saw 15 years ago, where they used vibrational control of a table top to move different objects around in different paths at the same time, putting them into exacting positions.
Coolest math since the CAT scan. It's the demonstrative dividing line between really smart people amd true geniuses.
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Someone should patent it as a murder weapon, to ram thousands of these up someone's nose and down into their lungs.
Another damned thing to watch out for on the horizon.
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I just spoiled the next Jack Ryan novel, sorry.
Coolest thing I've seen in a long time (Score:1)
Cool (Score:2)
I'll wait for the virtual waifu version.
This was actually performed at Sussex University (Score:1)
Is there only one electron in the universe? (Score:2)
In addition to being totally awesome, it's also a great way to visualize this theory:
https://io9.gizmodo.com/what-i... [gizmodo.com]
Digi-key part numbers please! And more video links (Score:1)
At one point it says that the ultrasound transducers are "off the shelf" parts. If so, does anyone have the Digikey (or Mouser or whoever) part numbers for these transducers? How much do they cost in quantities of, oh say 512? Are there plans out there yet for how to build your own acoustophoretic board?
Hmmm... looks like you will also need some FPGAs of some flavor... and based on the github code each board has to be calibrated.
Another interesting video is here:
https://www.15min.lt/mokslasit/video/a-volum