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AIREAL Lets You Feel Virtual Objects In The Open Air

AIREAL is a computer-controlled device that uses puffs of air to create the illusion that you are touching ghostly bodies in mid-air.


(AIREAL, the novel haptic technology in mid-air)

AIREAL is a novel haptic technology that delivers effective and expressive tactile sensations in free air, without requiring the user to wear a physical device. Combined with interactive computers graphics, AIREAL enables users to feel virtual 3D objects, experience free air textures and receive haptic feedback on gestures performed in free space. AIREAL relies on air vortex generation directed by an actuated flexible nozzle to provide effective tactile feedback with a 75 degrees field of view, and within an 8.5cm resolution at 1 meter.

AIREAL is a scalable, inexpensive and practical free air haptic technology that can be used in a broad range of applications, including gaming, mobile applications, and gesture interaction among many others. [The] paper reports the details of the AIREAL design and control, experimental evaluations of the device’s performance, as well as an exploration of the application space of free air haptic displays. Although we used vortices, we believe that the results reported are generalizable and will inform the design of haptic displays based on alternative principles of free air tactile actuation.

SF writer Frederik Pohl predicted this development in his 1965 novel The Age of the Pussyfoot:

"Man Forrester, the personal callers are as follows:

...Adne Bensen: female, Universalist, Arcadian-Trimmer, twenty-three declared, five feet seven inches, experiencer-homeswoman, no business stated. Her kiss follows."

Forrester did not know what to expect but was pleasantly ready for anything.

What he got was indeed a kiss. It was disconcerting. No kissing lips were visible. There was a hint of perfumed breath, then a pressure on the lips - warm and soft, moist and sweet.

Startled, he touched his mouth. "How the devil did you do that?" he shouted.

"Sensory stimulation through the tactile net, Man Forrester..."
(Read more about Pohl's Virtual Kiss (Tactile Net) )

From AIREAL via Kurzweil AI

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