iGyaan Network

Tag: Ultrasonic

  • Haptic Hologram Tech Makes Star Trek’s Holodeck a Reality

    Haptic Hologram Tech Makes Star Trek’s Holodeck a Reality

    Well, it’s time we touch the concept of haptic hologram technology which Star Trek introduced to us 20 years ago in the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, ‘Encounter at Farpoint’. An English company called Ultrahaptics has developed a method of delivering haptic feedback for holographic imagery using ultrasonic technology.

    The new technology, basically lets you feel without touching. Using ultrasound to project sensations into the air, this new technology is more sophisticated than what is shown in the Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s Minority Report where Tom Cruise needed gloves to feel the sensation.

    Originally developed in University of Bristol, the developers of the sophisticated system claim that it can deliver different haptic feedback and virtually tactile shapes through ultrasonic waves by changing the feedback of the ultrasonic waves or their modulation frequency.

    Concept image showing a possible application of haptic holograms.
    Concept image showing a possible application of haptic hologram.

    The potential of the technology is huge. It could be used in markets such as consumer electronics, games, household appliances and the car industry. A coffee machine that switches on with the wave of a hand from your bed, perhaps. Adding a sense of touch as well as sight and sound will make it easier to completely immerse in virtual reality.

    And the ability to feel the shape of virtual objects could open a whole lot of new possibilities in various fields of research such as doctors could use their hands to examine a lump detected by a CT scan or museum visitors could handle virtual replicas of priceless exhibits while the real thing remains safely behind glass.

    Ultrahaptics is based at Bristol and has been awarded £600,000 to hire more developers and fine tune its remarkable technology. Although the current version of the technology works in a lab setting, developers said that they would have to wait a bit longer to see some of the commercial applications of the technology.

  • Ultrasonic: A Tool That Can Make Your Device Truly Hands-Free

    Ultrasonic: A Tool That Can Make Your Device Truly Hands-Free

    Ever wondered if it’s time to bid the whole keyboard and mouse a grand farewell considering touch is fast becoming the norm. Well, the engineers at Knowles seem to be working hard to make sure that you don’t even have to touch your smartphone or tablet to get your tasks done.

    Knowles is a legendary company with a long history of over 60 years. In fact Neil Armstrong’s most revered words, “That’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind,” were spoken into a Knowles microphone. Guess that sets the credibility of the company to set the claims for what it is offering.

    The company has developed a mic called ultrasonic. It is about the size of the tip of a pen. This mic can hear sound waves that are inaudible to the human ear. It captures the waves emitted from special speakers installed in a smartphone or a tablet. The device the uses those signals to triangulate and track the hand movements and give the desired output.

    The Pen-Tip sized sensor is capable of letting you use your devices hands free.
    The Pen-Tip sized sensor is capable of letting you use your devices hands free.

    Ultrasonic can track gestures and movements to a distance of 4 to 12 inches from the display. The device manufacturers have installed additional sensors in their camera to add similar features, but they only can track motion up to 2 inches from the screen. Ultrasonic’s feature will let people give a presentation on their devices, and they can flip through slides with ease. The device also utilizes less power than the camera solution as it works on sound waves.

    The executives at Knowles are enthusiastic about this technology and say they are ready to market it to top device manufacturers. The device has already been bought for tests by some small manufacturers. They ultimately want the device to feature in devices from brands like Samsung and Apple and make the technology mainstream.

    Most of the companies already add three microphones to their devices for better voice capturing and noise cancellation. The companies would only have to add one more mic input into their devices to make Knowles’ unique interaction system work.

    This sounds like a great new feature to have in our smart devices. The Smartwatch segment can greatly benefit from this. The tiny display often get covered while they are touched; a gesture interaction will really come handy. We’ll be waiting for this to come to the market.

iGyaan Network
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