Disney's AIREAL Lets You FEEL What's On The Screen | TechTree.com

Disney's AIREAL Lets You FEEL What's On The Screen

Disney says “Talk to the hand”, or rather, “Feel it on your hand”.

 

Forget Xbox Kinect and Sony Playstation Eye gesture controls, Disney Research paves the way to true gesture controls. It has come up with a unique way to make user's feel what's on the screen. It's called 'AIREAL', and can make you feel like you are touching and interacting with objects on the screen.

Disney Research says, “AIREAL is a new low cost, highly scalable haptic technology that delivers expressive tactile sensations in mid air. AIREAL enables users to feel virtual objects, experience dynamically varying textures and receive feedback on full body gestures, all without requiring the user to wear a physical device. AIREAL is designed to use a vortex, a ring of air that can travel large distances while keeping its shape and speed. When the vortex hits a user’s skin, the low pressure system inside a vortex collapses and imparts a force the user can feel”.

Basically it’s the same principle as blowing smoke rings, AIREAL blasts at the user from 3 feet away. The tactile sensation isn't like something blowing air at you directly, but more like how smoke rings form with a differential between low-pressure air in the room and a high-pressure vortex.

All too scientific to understand, but definitely something too cool to miss. Check out the video below. Note that this is far from ready for commercial use. Though we are quite excited to see where Disney will take this, be it games, movie theatres, their amusement parks, or a whole new way of interacting with our digital devices.


Multiple AIREAL devices can work together to support a tactile feedback when a user interacts with a virtual soccer ball.


A user plays a game where a virtual seagull flies around the user’s head, simulating the wake of the seagull.


Persistent haptic spaces act as virtual 3D buttons allowing users to feel physical feedback when performing swipe gestures to scroll through images.


A projected butterfly is simultaneously collocated with free air sensations simulating a real butterfly on a user’s hand.

 


TAGS: Culture

 
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