You may have heard about Leap Motion’s gesture recognition system but providing tactile feedback to the user is another story. Complete implementation of such a solution actually requires both, recognition of a user’s hands, their relative position to virtual objects of the 3D content shown on a display, and tactile feedback to the hands at the proper positions – or permanent feedback, no matter where hands are in space. There are several companies and research organizations working on the subject and their solutions‘ range is as wide as one can imagine. Some inspired solutions were developed by Ultrahaptics and by Hap2U. While Ultrahaptics uses ultrasound for the feedback, Hap2U selected piezo actuators for their devices. Both seem to be smart and safe concepts.
SeeReal has already used Leap Motion’s sensors for interaction with holographic content on H3D display prototypes. Tactile feedback seems like another step towards the holodeck …