Ultrasound

There was more to Star Trek’s holodeck than holograms. The promise of this fantastic device wasn’t just that it could show you an adventure visually. It had a tactile element. When Jean Luc Picard was macking on non-existent film noir chicks as Private Detective Dixon Hill in Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes like “The Big Goodbye,” he could feel them, and we’ll let your imagination go from there. It’s a vital component to a fully immersive virtual reality experience, and one that just a bit closer thanks to research at Bristol University. The researchers have used focused ultrasound to create 3D virtual shapes that hover in mid-air. You can touch and feel the contours of these shapes. The researchers say this tactile element could be added to 3D displays to create a convincing virtual experience. Their suggestions for use include, for example, a surgeon exploring a CT scan with her hands or virtual museum displays. “Touchable holograms, immersive virtual reality that you can feel and complex touchable controls in