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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."

24 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. Did somebody say McDonald's? by UbuntuDupe · · Score: 4, Funny

    And by "McDonald's", I of course mean "teledildonics"?

  2. How long until this is in the home? by jandrese · · Score: 3, Interesting

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

    --

    I read the internet for the articles.
    1. Re:How long until this is in the home? by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Funny

      Knowing the pr0n industry, and guys in general - 5 years, tops.

      Then we'll be reading stories about people who die of starvation because they were so caught up in their cybersex world, that they forgot to eat, sleep, etc., and just died.

      And there will be clinics for cybersextoy addicts.

      And law suits.

      The big question for slashdotters, of course, is "Will it run linux?" This will be the first time they prefer Windows, because it can be depended to "go down on them" on a regular basis.

      And no, I don't want to imagine a Boewulf Cluster of them - it would be a REAL cluster-f*ck!

    2. Re:How long until this is in the home? by Wicko · · Score: 3, Interesting

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

    3. Re:How long until this is in the home? by skinfitz · · Score: 4, Funny

      Making it feel "real" is probably a long way off though, especially for home use. ...as opposed to work use..?
    4. Re:How long until this is in the home? by Have+Brain+Will+Rent · · Score: 2, Interesting

      > 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. 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.

      --
      The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny - Aesop
  3. Has to be said... by ushering05401 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Get money from pr0n kingpins. Bring them into the family and let them subsidize this tech/form their own group of researchers to specifically pursue porn related applications. It will get to market so much faster than if left to academics..

    My interest would be to explore new human/computer interactions (not like that sickos). The 2d nature of monitor systems is only slightly less annoying with the new 3d super gee whiz flying through space multiple workspace navigation systems.

    A haptic glove with sensitive feedback mechanisms and a graphical interface that allows organization of workspaces/workspace elements in an untethered 3d environment is something I have always wanted. Add in some good voice recognition and a chair designed so you can rest your arms while still retaining full range of motion with the gloved hand.

    It would be the interface of my dreams.

    1. Re:Has to be said... by snilloc · · Score: 3, Insightful
      The 2d nature of monitor systems is only slightly less annoying with the new 3d super gee whiz flying through space multiple workspace navigation systems.

      While 3d workspaces certainly would have their applications (medicine for instance), IMO for the average individual 3d would be merely re-creating the physical workspace that the 2d interface replaced. The 2d space is useful because it is an abstraction/simplification of the work that was previously done in 3d.

  4. Re:application by poopdeville · · Score: 3, Funny

    No SHIT!

    That is SO INSIGHTFUL! I'm REELING at the POSSIBILITIES!

    --
    After all, I am strangely colored.
  5. Wait by ZachMG · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So does this mean that there is a possibility of realtime or "live" 3D encounters, no I do not think so. At this point it may be able to scan in one object and display it for feeling but doing it where new things can be scanned and created anywhere realtime would need processing power way beyond what we have so to all you sickos out there this probably wont be of much use if you like anything better then a plastic bag full of Vaseline.

    --
    There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum. --Arthur C. Clarke
  6. Tits? by imag0 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Tits?

    Wake me when there's tits and we'll talk. /mmmm. downloadable b00bies.

  7. Back to the Future by glittalogik · · Score: 3, Funny

    Where we're going, you won't need lube...

  8. Old news by Scutter · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

    --

    "Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
  9. Non-pr0n applications by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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?

    --
    Your ad here. Ask me how!
  10. Re:on bodies by pyrrhonist · · Score: 3, Funny

    You had me at, "Hello".

    --
    Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
  11. Re:Who is driving? by nlitement · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's really exciting to finally find a new brother, enlightenment. :)

  12. Does it work this time? by Animats · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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?

  13. Yes! by martin-boundary · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sweet setup! Im buying one as soon as they finish programming "Three Stooges: The Game" on that puppy!

  14. Finally... by Heston · · Score: 3, Funny

    A device which allows us to punch people in the face....OVER THE Internet!

  15. VRML! by VariableGHz · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yes! Finally! Everyone was laughing when I said VRML was the future, now who's got the last laugh? h0 h0 h0!

    Hail the 3-touchable-red-cubes!

  16. Re:Hey, I can make porn jokes about this story too by fireheadca · · Score: 2, Funny

    Who says they're joking?

  17. Processing easy, not lying hard by CarpetShark · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I don't imagine any heavy processing requirements here. Collision detection on 3D objects is done in almost every 3D game. The nodes in the glove are equivalent to a few other moving game objects colliding with the 3d object in question. How many games have you seen that can handle that workload? Quite a few, I think.

    This article is B.S., though. This isn't a "tactile display", it's just a 3D display, much like we've had for decades, with a force feedback glove attached.

  18. I don't see the new technology by chenjeru · · Score: 2, Informative

    From the photo, the equipment on the hand looks like stuff from Immersion Corporation (http://www.immersion.com). You may remember Immersion as the company who won a lawsuit for the vibration technology in the Playstation controllers. GameDaily Biz has branded them as 'Patent Trolls'. However, it may not be their hardware - in which case please skip the next paragraph.

    The Cyberglove is a tight glove with flexion sensors to register finger position and thumb rotation. That would also lead me to believe that the haptic device is Immersion's CyberGrasp. The Cybergrasp uses an exoskeleton-like device with rings that fit over each finger joint give resistive force feedback to simulate 'collision' with an object. You can do your own Google image search for the Cybergrasp. It's almost always used with a CyberGlove. The CyberForce is a force-feedback armature for providing resistance in 6 degrees to the position of your hand. It's produced with technology licensed from SensAble Technologies.

    All of these pieces of hardware have been around for years. The same applies with many flavors of 3D displays. I fail to see what the new technology here is. VR people have been doing this for a long time.

    --
    Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. - Will Rogers
  19. 3d modeling. by jshriverWVU · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.