Touchable 3D holograms are now a reality in world-first breakthrough

Forward-looking: A team of scientists has successfully demonstrated the world's first interactive 3D holographic display, enabling users to physically interact with virtual light projections. If commercialized, this technology could be immensely useful in education – just to name one example. As New Atlas explains, traditional holograms are created using swept volumetric displays. Images are projected at varying heights onto a rigid oscillating surface known as a diffuser at a rate of around three thousand times per second. This setup produces the appearance of a 3D object suspended in space without the need for special 3D glasses. The problem, as it relates to haptics, is the oscillating surface. The moment you try to touch it, the illusion fails and you're likely to break the contraption – or worse, lose a finger. To get around this, a group of scientists led by Dr. Elodie Bouzbib at the Public University of Navarra replaced the rigid oscillating surface with one made of elastic s ... Read full article.