MIT students develop 3D touchscreen display that could touch you

Like a sci-fi fantasy come true, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) students have created a tangible display that allows users to touch things through their computer screens.

Daniel Leithinger and Sean Follmer, PhD candidates at the MIT Media Lab in Boston, recently unveiled inFORM, a shape display that can render 3D content physically.

It works like an old-school pinscreen toy, except that under each pin is a motor that reacts to a ‘kinect’ depth-sensing camera, the camera then captures the depth data and transmits it to the table, where action is rendered through the pins.

The introduction video shows inFORM used in many different ways – moving objects across a table, creating 3D models, rendering buttons and menus when they are needed.

The designers drew inspiration from their frustration with modern touch-screen technology, which does not provide interactive, physical feedback.