RePro3D

Lonely gamers who have felt the pain of being separated by a screen from their favorite personalities now have a way to reach out and touch their game characters, and that new way is RePro3D. A group of researchers from Keio University in Japan have come up with a 3D screen that lets the user, glasses-free, see and touch characters on the screen. The technology is about a 3D parallax display with infrared camera that recognizes the movements of the user's hand and the character on the screen reacts to the movements instantly.

Researchers use retro-reflective projection technology, using materials with special retro-reflective characteristics. This kind of material reflects light that enters back at the same angle it entered. Using this technology enables a display to show images at a different place from the light source. A user's tactile device worn on the fingers is designed to enhance the sensation of touching the objects on a 3D screen. In the future, they plan to build a touchable 3D display system that expands the size of the visible image, so that multiple people can be in the same space, and can share the same image.

More information:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-09-lonely-gamers-repro3d-characters-video.html