Ghost Project – is the brainchild of four universities in the UK, Holland and Denmark. Created in 2013, supported by the EU, it can get an enormous impact on the future of gadgets and technology field of touchscreen.
The project draws us to a future where we can use our fingers to pull out the objects or data from the screen and then manipulate them while they are in space.
And this is the salt of the project – your fingers will feel the data as a tangible object during manipulation of the “phantom” objects in three-dimensional space.
The team already has a number of outstanding achievements in this direction. Researchers are working on screens that can automatically change the shape and the fact of the transfer of objects from the screen surface into space, creating so-called “ghost” that you can touch and feel.
How to make objects out of the screen?
According to the researchers, the technology has been made possible thanks to advances in technology deformable screens and ultrasound levitation. (Ultrasonic levitation – holding an object above the ground with the help of acoustic emission). After the object is moved in space – they can be manipulated.
“It’s not just about how to change the shape of the screen. The object that we want to change can be suspended in the air, “- says Casper Hornbeck, project coordinator Ghost, professor at the University of Copenhagen. “With the help of ultrasonic levitation technology we can use the display is a flat surface, and thanks to the deformable screens we can even dip our fingers into it!”[ads2]
We can feel the ghost?
Users will be able to handle objects and data in a completely new way. Surgeons could use Ghost to create a virtual model of the organ, for example, the human brain, which can be run before the operation, so the researchers say.
Project researchers are working with objects that resemble sponges and pads (bars) as interfaces which change shape, which means that musicians including could be displayed in such interface data rate, timbre itp
Despite the relative youth of the project, the researchers have already created a number of intriguing prototypes.
One of the prototype, which was named The appearance, allowing users to retrieve data from a chart screen using your fingers. The data appear in the form of columns of data, and after they were removed from the screen, the data can be manipulated and move them. The technology makes it possible to visualize the most in three-dimensional space data graphs from spreadsheet to conduct effective presentations and reports.
Another prototype – «Morphees», – used in mobile devices, in this case, the display is made of Lycra or a shape memory alloy. Screens can bend and change shape automatically. If the user must enter the credit card information or social security number in a public place, the screen may automatically be bent so that others can not see the entry of personal data.
The potential application of the technology is huge Ghost. If a user, for example, want to watch a movie on the big screen, the device can “grow” to a larger size, and then return to normal size.
“From the mass introduction of technology Phantom separates us about five years.” Said Professor Hornbeck – “If we talk about such a possibility your smartphone as the creation of 20-30 cm of relief, there might need a little more time. But we’re working on it! “