Turn a regular table into a floating computer screen using mist

Here’s the computer screen of the future you’ve been waiting for—one that allows you to push objects and images onto it with just your hands.

Engineers from Bristol University in the United Kingdom developed a tabletop display that can transform into a hologram-like screen onto which 3D objects are projected onto a curtain of fog that is hanging above the table.
 

Image courtesy of Bristol Interaction and Graphics group, University of Bristol.

The “MisTable” screen allows users to manipulate images in the air by pushing through the fog screens.

The project led by Professor Sriram Subramanian and Dr. Diego Martinez Plasencia of the Computer Science department consists of a tabletop system that combines a conventional table with personal screens built using fog between the user and the tabletop surface. It also consists of a fog machine with a reservoir and distribution chamber underneath as well as projectors. The screens are both see-through and reach-through, which allows users to see directly through the objects and also allows them to interact with a personal screen.

This screen allows users to move floating touch-enabled images in the air freely between different interaction spaces. They can literally pick up holographic images in the air and place them on the table.

Still can’t grasp the concept? Check out the video below for a better understanding of how it works.

The Bristol University team will be presenting its research at the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems at the end of the month.

At the conference, the researchers will show how two fans above and below the edge of an ordinary tabletop can create thing walls of mist which act as screens. The vapor used is dry and does not wet users’ hands.

For more information visit Bristol University’s website..