Slashdot Mirror


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.

7 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. AIREAL + Oculus Rift would be amazing by MSRedfox · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

  2. The Only Market That Matters by DexterIsADog · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

  3. Re:3D Boobs by Cryacin · · Score: 4, Funny

    Great, so now dead space 4 will not only have nasties jumping out of the dark, but a gentle wisp of breathing on my neck as well.

    I think the sales of adult diapers will be going through the roof.

    --
    Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
  4. Re:3D Boobs by gagol · · Score: 3, Funny

    You know a blow job is not simply blowing air on a penis, right? There is a suction part missing to make it happens.

    --
    Tomorrow is another day...
  5. Re:3D Boobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Use the other end of the device.

  6. Is there a way to make a REVERSE air puff? by wisebabo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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).

  7. Re:3D Boobs by davester666 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah, the part with the fan.

    --
    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!