According to the GHOST (Generic, Highly-Organic Shape-Changing Interfaces) research project, static screens that we are surrounded with viz. TV, computer, laptop, smartphones and tablets are a real drawback for humans. We humans by nature are inquisitive and thrive on interaction and manipulation of the world around us! So working and believing in this same direction, this European backed research group has been working on developing displays with shapes and sizes that we can change.

According to Phys.org, in the past two years the group has developed various systems that aid in a real, physical interaction between the screen display and the user. By using ultrasound levitation, the group has succeeded in projecting the display out of the panel and when this is combined with a deformable screen, the users can actually reach into the display and interact with what’s there. During a demonstration of theirs, called Emerge, the GHOST project made a user reach into a bar graph and manipulate the levels.

The team has discussed various potentials of the technology, in reactionary display reforming for example; an ATM would be able to adjust its screen in way that it would prevent those standing nearby from reading a pin code as it is typed. In another example, using this technology, smartphones and tablet screens can be configured to conform to the shape of a map’s topography. Though such high levels of malleability of the screen is a far-fetched idea right now, the developers believe that within the next five years we would be able to see the first displays conforming to the shapes we choose.

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Author:Technology Blog