Normally this sort of thing comes off as novel and gimmicky to me...but the potential in something so physical and reactive like this is huge, in my opinion. Imagine if the little columns were smaller and sleeker. There are a lot of pretty amazing innovations that could happen with this concept.
I had thought this was a screen that could form bubbles with electric charge, or similar. I think this whole thing is really cool, but it's nothing that is really unique or can't be done by easier to use, cheaper, screens or robotic arms. It's really cool, really futuristic looking, but that's the sad thing. The stuff that looks futuristic isn't the future at all, simple black squares with no buttons are.
This is great. I remember seeing an earlier version of this same thing a few months back. They've really taken the idea and considered a nice variety of applications. I see people saying smaller pins would make better resolution. Sure. The big problem still is that there are no undercuts to the object because the top surface is extruded downward filling in that space - a much more difficult thing to overcome. I can imagine a version that is not mechanically driven, but either acoustically, or electro-magnetically. If it can do that and still remain interactive - we're in hologram territory people.
Well, if you made those a little smaller, over a much larger area, such as a table, and then hooked it up to world-edit in minecraft....
Imagine if the little columns were smaller and sleeker
and on a much larger surface area. Yeah, this is extremely cool stuff. I often take my daughter to the Durham Life and Sciences Museum and her favorite thing there is something like this, except it isn't computer generated, it's a series of pins that you can press with your hand and you see the effect on the other end is an exact replica of your hand. I thought that is what would be happening here and was surprised when i saw him just motioning in thin air. -Super cool technology.
Oh yeah. Having the surface area be perhaps industrially sized, and having the motions be more nuanced and fine...man, this could be some really promising tech.