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Disney Creates New Mid-Air Haptic Technology
An anonymous reader sends word of a new technology from Disney called AIREAL, featured at this year's SIGGRAPH 2013 conference in Anaheim, CA. It's designed to give tactile sensations to people who are using motion control devices. The device can track a target, like a user's hand, and send a compressed ring of air quickly through the intervening space to provide haptic feedback. They say the device is both inexpensive and scalable. Several of its parts are easily 3-D printed.
Title says it all. I predict this will be one of the first commercial applications of this wonderful new technology.
3D printing != Cheap. 3D printing is only "cheap" for non mass production of custom items....
Disney is evil, constantly pushing for increasing copyright terms, and stealing our culture from us.
They built the company upon other's original works (brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson, Mark Twain, etc.), and now want keep others from having a similar opportunity.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
The idea of this mixed with an Oculus Rift would be amazing. We're getting close to the virtual reality they teased me with as a child.
Are there applications for interactive porn? I don't know how much push they can put in those air rings, but if it's enough to stimulate a penis, I say... blow me.
This isn't new, a lot of 3D theaters across the world have exactly the same thing...
but it's new when you can produce it at home..
typical Disney...
Soooo..... Not useful in a holodeck and does not shoot actual smoke rings for a cool party effect..... Trash it and try again. Come one people! Wasting time on tech like this is why we do not have jet packs yet!
>> An anonymous reader sends word of a new technology from Disney called AIREAL, featured at this year's SIGGRAPH 2013 conference in Anaheim, CA.
"Featured"?
It's Saturday night in Anaheim right now! Even exhibitors won't be able to gain entry to set up anything until tomorrow morning (Sunday).
"Featured" by itself is past-tense, but the overall sentence gives the impression that not only was this technology already seen at SIGGRAPH, but that SIGGRAPH might already be over -- before it has even begun!
The phrase "to be featured" would have been better!
Disney has such cool technology and amazing implementation from their theme parks to their cruise ships. It's fascinating to watch how they do things.
Meanwhile, the Disney Channel is so full of terrible awful nauseating acting and relentless fake laugh tracks that I can't stand when my kids have it on the other room. I make them turn it off. 5 other things on TV at any time that are much better for them and that they like (And yes OFF is the best setting). Yet you turn to any full length animated feature and it's usually pretty darn good.
Disney is ruining their name with their daily TV. Pre-teens "acting" worse than any 6th grade talent show, with dialogue that would choke a normal kid.
It's hard to understand the total disparity in quality.
Operator, give me the number for 911!
Go fuck yourself.
I know that the context of this thread hardly lends itself to serious speculation but I was just wondering...
Since "puffs" of air are basically over-pressure waves in a medium, can an apparatus be made to make an "under" pressure wave? In air, or water or other mediums? Prurient applications aside there might be some useful applications (I used to work in the theme park industry so water shows come to mind). Maybe if a cavitation bubble (which I understand is an under-pressure volume) could be projected, it could be an effective underwater weapon (they damage propellers on ships and submarines). Perhaps an acoustic under-pressure wave could damage eardrums or supress audio (useful for crowd control). How about undersea trench laying for fiber optic cables?
Most likely though there is something about the non-linear response of under-pressure waves that would prevent them from being used in a practical application. Then my next question would be, did the Disney researchers try using a pressure wave shaped in a soliton? This might enable it to travel great(er) distances without losing its "shape". Or are solitons even possible in compressive versus transverse waves?
Wouldn't be the first time the porn industry helped accelerate the adoption of a whole industry! (VCRs).
Certain engineering concepts can be executed, but in ways so limited they may as well be considered undo-able. Animated holograms are one good example of this. Thousands of ways to create animated true-3d visual images, and all of them are horrible. Creating 'physical' objects for the body to 'detect' out of thin air is another such nonsense.
Virtual reality would love to create physical sensations for the user. All the clunky ways in which this might be achieved are really non-starters, including rubbish about air-blasts. The ONLY approach that makes sense is electrically inducing the nerve responses that would give the brain the SAME signals as if the body were really experiencing the same physical stimuli on the surface of the skin.
Of course, in reality we not only 'feel' sensations (like the fur of a pet) but our movements are restricted by the physical nature of objects around us. Over-riding nerve signals designed to move parts of our body, giving the impression of contact with an imaginary physical object, would seem almost impossible to achieve without directly wiring into the Human nervous system.
I appreciate the Disney idea is far simpler in ambition- merely providing a little physical feedback in otherwise 'empty' space, but what purpose is served by solving easy problems. It is a fallacy to suggest that HARD problems are solved by solving a lot of EASY problems. Did anyone here think that it was impossible to connect an air-hose to a robot arm with a camera tracking system? The smart person would ask "why would anyone bother?"
And yes, I get the fact that Disney can use such gimmicky crap in the insanely limited circumstances of its amusement rides and theme parks.
Couldn't stand the website, because everything was CORPORATE GREY. Grey text on a white background, almost impossible to see - just like Slashdot - lovely.
What about using something like this combined with those directed sound generators?
That could both result in sound and pressure coming from points in free space.
That would be fantastic.
Hell, wouldn't it be possible to use the sound generator itself to create the pressure by using the right frequencies at the right times?
So what happens if this thing blows its load right into the face of some tot and shoves some dust into precious' eyes? The little snowflake might be blinded! I see lawsuit written large in the future of this thing.
It doesn't matter how cool or useful something is; the over-zealous litigatory nature of American society will probably keep this from getting into common usage.
But what do I know; I'm just a grumpy old man who misses his lawn darts ;-)
This would be a cool way to send bong hits all around the room?
I would say this is a great tool, when used in surround configuration, to enhance horror game experience.
You know, the "for optimal experience, play in a dark room with headphones" ones.
Great potential for a lot of different technologies and a whole new interface method for the blind.