The team over at Microsoft Research has come up with a way to let the world on the touchscreen react to the person who's touching it. In a sense, the screen can finally touch back.
Microsoft Research placed a large touchscreen on a robotic display mount that moves in response to where it is being touched and what is being touched, all in relation to what is being displayed on screen. As shown in the video above, Mike Sinclair of Microsoft Research demonstrates the robotic mount reacting to him shifting a block that's displayed on screen. The screen shifts perspective, either pulling back or closer in by the amount of pressure Sinclair is putting on the block; likewise, the screen gives him "friction" when he attempts to push the block in back of another shape.
The company doesn't have any firm plans for the technology as of yet, as it is still in its early stages; but as the video suggests, it could one day be used as an interactive way for doctors to show and study MRI scans.
[via Gizmodo]
