New Virtual Technology: “Magic” Glove Allows User to Feel Images
Virtual technology is growing at an incredible pace. Japanese firm NTT recently unveiled a system that enables you to feel "the shape and softness" of three-dimensional images using a sensor-loaded glove. VR buffs who have been “feeling it” all along, will soon literally be able to feel their virtual worlds.
The new invention uses a "tangible 3D" system to create graphics that seem to burst out of a screen and has a glove that allows users to touch them.
Without any need for awkward 3D glasses, users can feel a far-away object as if it were right in front of them, NTT said at a virtual reality exhibition.
There are several future uses for the technology, including allowing museum visitors to “touch” precious exhibits sealed in showcases. Imagine getting your “hands on” rare, golden Egyptian artifacts via the device. It would certainly spice up the experience.
Indeed, the 3-D images are solid enough to grasp. Businessmen from around the globe could shake hands while separated by thousands of miles, especially since the technology will likely be developed for videophones.
The prototype Tangible 3D system combines a 3D display with a "haptic glove". Inside the glove, a user's hand is touched by numerous force-feedback components to make it feel as if it interacting with something solid.
The system can also translate real-world objects into virtual representations. Two cameras image the items in 3D so that they can be displayed on the screen. A connected computer then processes the 3D image to generate a tactile representation of the object.
Incredibly, if the object being filmed is moved, the three-dimensional image also moves in real-time and the user will feel the movement with their hand!
NTT engineer Shiro Ozawa, who developed the system, envisages various applications. "You would be able to take the hand, or gently pat the head, of your beloved grandchild who lives far away from you," he says.
While that sounds lovely, my own prediction not as many doting old grannies will be purchasing the device in future, as young gents interested in the device for “patting” supermodels. I’m just saying…
Posted by Rebecca Sato
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