

Aireal: Interactive Tactile Experiences in Free Air - pain_perdu
http://www.disneyresearch.com/project/aireal/

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philwebster
Very cool. If you're interested in this technology, you can get larger
handheld air cannons that shoot big blasts of air quite far. (They're a ton of
fun!) See
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_vortex_cannon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_vortex_cannon)

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haberdasher
Wait, is any portion of the device 3D printed?

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adamnemecek
Yeah, I was wondering why they kept repeating that.

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kenrikm
My guess is that they want to make sure the Patent covers 3D Printed versions
as well.

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solistice
Or simply because 3d printed is a huge buzzword right now. Technically, 3d
printing these offers no benefit over more conventional technologies like
injection molding.

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spyder
Using ultrasonic seems more promising, because no moving parts are used and
one "tactile pixel" is smaller than that air cannon thing.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd9DgsI95hc](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd9DgsI95hc)
[http://www.ultrasonic-audio.com/products/syntact.html](http://www.ultrasonic-
audio.com/products/syntact.html)

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solistice
I would like to disagree that there aren't any moving parts used whilst
generating ultrasonic waves. After all, something needs to vibrate.

Ultrasonic levitation is pretty cool, and the tacile interface isn't bad
either. I just somewhat pity that they've looked at the technology and told
themselves "Ohh, that'd be great for musicians", which I think isn't the right
assumption to make in this case. I mean HD-MIDI still hasn't been adapted
widely after being discussed in 2005 (that's 8 years now), so I wonder if
musicians are a fertile breeding ground for "paradigm changing tacile
interfaces".

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6ren
Very cool, but it looks like latency is a problem, since vortex propagation
speed is limited by the medium of air (I'm guessing...) It might be OK when
very close to the device, as in the tablet examples.

Compared with rumble/vibration in console controllers/phones, it's directional
and hands-free. I wonder if gyroscopic twisting forces might be better for
giving actual forces of resistance?

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joshuak
For certain types of games latency shouldn't be a problem since you can map
the future interaction point between hand and target. If you miss then, well
you missed. Boxing games would work well, FPS not so much. In a POV game you
can't predict the view angle so also not the interaction point.

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paul9290
I've been seeing a few disneyresearch links on HN and wondered if someone who
works there has been submitting them?

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ibudiallo
As long that the links are interesting and provide something as relevant as
this one I see no problem.

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31reasons
Calling it a haptic device is a stretch.

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ricardobeat
Care to explain? Haptic = tactile feedback, regardless of the medium used to
achieve the effect. Even rumbling gamepads qualify as such.

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31reasons
If you go by such a broad definition even the vibrator in your phone would
make it a haptic device. But many people will argue that its not.

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transfire
Holoemitters version 1.

