Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display creates haptic 3D objects you can poke

Sure, you may have your fancy vibrating controllers and liquid-injecting touch screens, but Takayuki Iwamoto wants you to play with the air. Iwamoto and some of his buddies at the University of Tokyo have come up with a way to use focused ultrasound to create manipulable virtual objects in space. Using multiple transducers, the "Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display" creates an acoustic radiation pressure field. Holding your hand in the field allows you to "feel" the object, manipulate it, and feel response. Right now, the system only creates a vertical field, but you had better bet that Iwamoto is working on that. As for suitable applications, interest has already been shown from both industrial and gaming developers. No word on the hentai industry taking note, but that can't be too far away. Check the video after the break to see this tech in action.

[Via BBC News]

[broli @ Sep 3rd 2008 9:20AM]

For porn?

[OneLove @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:27AM]

Those crazy japanners.

[meist3r @ Sep 3rd 2008 9:31AM]

Ok now, don't think of boobs, don't think of boobs. It's just a big round tea pot with a knob on the top... God damnit!

Nice tech though, wonder how strong these fields might get in the future. Maybe this is the first "force field" that actually works.

[Anarkie @ Sep 3rd 2008 1:01PM]

Grreeeaaat....Finding the virtual g-spot will be even harder than the real thing...

[DIEGO @ Sep 3rd 2008 5:17PM]

Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start maybe?

[maveric101 @ Sep 3rd 2008 9:36AM]

holy crap thats amazing. how much resistance can it generate?

[Saad Rabia @ Sep 3rd 2008 9:41AM]

Anyone else thinking of cars with no wheels?

[Pumping_Iron @ Sep 3rd 2008 9:58AM]

Nope, not me.

[j_g_puff @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:04AM]

You mean like hovercraft?

[Joe Blow @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:16AM]

Great Scott Marty!

[jahcriado @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:11AM]

You have to understand, most of the guys on here are just thinking dirty guy thoughts. Heres to you to rising above that. But, I don't think it would be practical, mag lev is much more resilient, known, & powerful enough to lift cars & trains & such, this seems like just some tactile feed back, don't think it would push hard enough to lift anything of measure.

[jahcriado @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:31AM]

Make that "WOULDN'T be practical", need some caffine

[Spencer @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:44AM]

Considering that it takes an emitter the size of a mousepad to shift a piece of paper, it seems unlikely. To make a hovercar, it would need to output enough force to lift both itself and a useful load, which is a long way from what's being shown here.

Also, whilst I'm no sonic engineer, I tend to think having thousands of cars emitting ultrasound in a city can't be good for the structural integrity of buildings.

[maveric101 @ Sep 3rd 2008 1:02PM]

i've thought about the same thing before. the problem with it is making them stop.

[zmjjmz @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:16AM]

Iron Man?

[Wwhat @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:23AM]

ultrasound eh, also keeps the musquitos away and the cat from sleeping on the keyboard I presume, drives the dogs mad though right?

[Wwhat @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:25AM]

Just realised it is linked from the BBC, so it's probably all nonsense and reported wrong, they don't have a good track record of getting technology, oh well

[Spencer @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:40AM]

Am I the only one that's thinking tactile holodeck?

Also, the invisible object is totally the Utah Teapot! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Teapot

[TheLostVikings @ Sep 9th 2008 2:34AM]

Damn it, beat me to it lol.

Step 1: Install those ultrasound emitters all over the floor of an empty room.
Step 2: Mount 3D projectors pointing at each wall in the ceiling.
Step 3: Put on some of those butt-ugly polarisation 3D glasses.
Step 4: Realize you forgot to hook those projector up to a source
Step 5: Realize that holodeck software don't even exist yet.
Step 6: Be sad, very sad.

[ethana2 @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:44AM]

Fascinating.. It'll be very interesting to see this combined with holograms..
Wow, we're in the future ;)

[Pancho @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:49AM]

How long will it take to combine this with holograms and create a real Holodeck?

[Patrick Austin @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:36AM]

I can finally realize my dream of getting freaky with a ghost!

[Gabriel @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:49AM]

this is awesome! from the looks of it you could make that piece of paper float in mid air :o

[Nick @ Sep 3rd 2008 1:22PM]

no... Its not making the paper float in the air, rather the paper is the visual medium allowing you to see what exactly is happening. The actual ultra sonic doohickey is not visible to the naked eye, so pushing a paper on it lets you know there's actually something there. Hmm.... I wonder if some sort of led or something in the base would enable you to see. I don't know enough about sound to collectively say yes or no to a lit item.

[Unknown @ Sep 3rd 2008 1:55PM]

It's somewhat interesting, but extremely limited. Acoustic radiation pressure only exists perpendicular to the wave propagation, so any resistance will only be "up". Never, ever down. If you have a sphere of transducers you can do better, but this will be pretty limiting as well, and the amount of pressure/resistance you'd feel is going to be quite small. Don't get your hopes up.

[Vëon @ Sep 3rd 2008 1:44PM]

Why not just drop a cloth on top of the thing instead of all that rubbing with the piece of paper? Even ghosts need white sheets to tell us where they are.

[NewJohnny @ Sep 5th 2008 1:53AM]

Exactly, or maybe some tassles that drape around it?

[Bones3D @ Sep 3rd 2008 2:29PM]

Personally, I'd like to watch them drop some dust or water onto the thing and see how it reacts. If it the dust particles / water droplets remain suspended upon the virtual contours being simulated without being shaken all to hell, I'd be pretty damned impressed.

[m.edgar @ Sep 3rd 2008 6:59PM]

So would Iwamoto.

[Undead @ Sep 3rd 2008 5:23PM]

Next Generation Punchout!

[Nelson @ Sep 6th 2008 12:57AM]

Poke things you say, (opening zipper, going toward the monitor slowly), ..... yea ...I thought that would happen,