MIT Researchers have found a way to allow people in one place to interact with three-dimensional versions of people or objects in a different location.
MIT’s Tangible Media Group calls this technology as “inFORM”
A person in one location moves or puts an object in front of a depth-sensing camera. That camera sends signals to a motorized pin screen somewhere else and that’s where the 3D image pops up. If someone on camera is moving his hands, for example, that movement would show up on the pin screen in another location.
inFORM is a Dynamic Shape Display that can render 3D content physically, so users can interact with digital information in a tangible way. inFORM can also interact with the physical world around it, for example moving objects on the table’s surface. Remote participants in a video conference can be displayed physically, allowing for a strong sense of presence and the ability to interact physically at a distance. MIT Researchers say inFORM is a step towards their vision of Radical Atoms.
- Urban planners and Architects can view 3D designs physically and better understand, share and discuss their designs.
- inFORM would allow 3D Modelers and Designers to prototype their 3D designs physically without 3D printing.
- Cross sections through Volumetric Data such as medical imaging CT scans can be viewed in 3D physically and interacted with.
