Ultrasound technology helps you touch invisible objects

BY MITCHELL FRIEDMAN

As reported by BBC Click, researchers at Bristol University have utilized a technology known as haptic feedback to create holograms you can actually feel. But these holograms have no visual projection—creating the effect of an invisible 3D object you can touch.

‘We have a technology that uses ultrasound to allow you to feel without touching.’

YouTube/BBCclick

Utilizing an ‘array of ultrasound speakers’ that create shapes in the air.

YouTube/BBCclick

‘What we do is we very precisely control the timing between the speakers so that all of the sound waves arrive at the same point at the same time.’

YouTube/BBCclick

‘These ultrasound speakers are usually used in car parking sensors where they emit a pulse to detect an object or a person.’

YouTube/BBCclick

‘We can target each different fingertip individually and we can create a different texture on each different fingertip.’

YouTube/BBCclick

YouTube/BBCclick

‘It [feels] like being tickled by the eyelashes of a butterfly.’

YouTube/BBCclick

This technology indicates a future in which we touch invisible buttons to control our appliances. 

YouTube/BBCclick

‘The actual physical buttons are awesome because when you touch them you know that you’ve touched them. When you click them, you get that immediate click feeling.’

YouTube/BBCclick

Eventually, the technology will  ’control devices, music players or home appliances… even the dashboard of your car.’

YouTube/BBCclick

H/T BBC Click | Screengrab via BBCclick/YouTube