Microsoft develops 3D touchscreen with tactile feedback
Details of a touchscreen showing 3D images that can be felt and manipulated have been published by Microsoft's research unit.
The project combines an LCD flat panel screen with force sensors and a robotic arm that moves it back and forwards.
100% electronic - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23132678 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23132678)
(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/68503000/png/_68503350_blocks.png)
That could be combined with an Oculus Rift and an Omni directional treadmill for haptic virtual reality. However, all this haptic stuff is like the Wright brothers all over again and its impossible to say what the hell will come out of it. To put it in perspective, it was just this year that physicists published a theory that describes 500 distinct states of matter. Materials scientists are like a kid with a new erector set, while we're still trying to sort out the basic wiring of the human brain and body. Anything and nothing can come of such research and the one thing that makes it interesting is that Microsoft does more of it than anyone else currently and the purpose of windows 8 is to not only empower portables, but expand their operating system interface capabilities. For example, they've already shown that people prefer an interface that allows them to use any combination of touch, gestures, keyboard, voice commands, or all the typical ways of communicating with each other people have.
Imagine what that will do for porn! ;D
Awesome man, I hope I get to work with this kind of cool shit when I finish my IST degree :)