No-Contact Technology Wall Street Journal

No-Contact Technology
Wall Street Journal (08/31/06) P. B3; Cheng, Roger
http://technews.acm.org/archives.cfm?fo=2006-09-sep/sep-01-2006.html

Microsoft researcher Andy Wilson has developed a technology that enables users to manipulate computer images with their hands. The technology, which Microsoft calls TouchLight, uses three cameras placed behind a large semitransparent screen. The system compares the infrared left and right cameras, which capture the depth and height of the user's hand movements, with human eyes. The middle camera remains focused on anything facing the screen. The person facing the screen can manipulate the images, which appear to be floating in space, that are projected on it. The system can also superimpose an image on both sides of the screen, and eventually multiple people might be able to work on the same design. Eon Reality, a maker of three-dimensional computer models, recently licensed the TouchLight system from Microsoft and intends to market the technology as a new mode of interactive advertising. "It's a way to interact with 2D and 3D data with your bare hands," said Eon's Dan Lejerskar. "We're trying to find a new way to define things." While Eon says the technology has drawn considerable interest, the one taker so far has been the United Kingdom's Technium CAST, a university affiliate that helps develop young technology ventures. CAST will use the system as a training tool and a method for developing visualization and communication programs. Auto mechanics could peruse virtual car diagrams without touching them with their oil-stained hands, for instance, or surgeons could flip through medical instructions in a sterile environment without touching anything.
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