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August 23, 2005

3D tactile feedback using air

Dorkingout field correspondent Torquil has submitted this link for perusal. The scienticians at the NTT Cyber Communications Laboratory Group in Japan have created an unteathered 3D force feedback device using grids of tiny individually controlled air holes in the surface of the table. It simulates the height or contact of a 3D object by adjusting the air pressure towards a pointing wand with an air scoop at the end. Before you ask, yes this may be used in the distant future to have cyber sex with your computer. However in the meantime I expect a few of the "Do It Yourself" inventor crowd to get caught by their mothers humping the airhockey table. "Its a prototype!"