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Aug 10

Colloidal Display uses soap bubbles, ultrasonic waves to form a projection screen (hands-on video)

If you’ve ever been to an amusement park, you may have noticed ride designers using some non-traditional platforms as projection screens — the most common example being a steady stream of artificial fog. Projecting onto transparent substances is a different story, however, which made this latest technique a bit baffling to say the least. Colloidal Display, developed by Yoichi Ochiai, Alexis Oyama and Keisuke Toyoshima, uses bubbles as an incredibly thin projection “screen,” regulating the substance’s properties, such as reflectance, using ultrasonic sound waves from a nearby speaker. The bubble liquid is made from a mixture of sugar, glycerin, soap, surfactant, water and milk, which the designers say is not easily popped. Still, during their SIGGRAPH demo, a motor dunked the wands in the solution and replaced the bubble every few seconds.

A standard projector directed at the bubble creates an image, which appears to be floating in the air. And, because the bubbles are transparent, they can be stacked to simulate a 3D image. You can also use the same display to project completely different images that fade in and out of view depending on your angle relative to the bubble. There is a tremendous amount of distortion, however, because the screen used is a liquid that remains in a fluid state. Because of the requirement to constantly refresh the bubbles, and the unstable nature of the screen itself, the project, which is merely a proof of concept, wouldn’t be implemented without significant modification. Ultimately, the designers hope to create a film that offers similar transparent properties but with a more solid, permanent composition. For now, you can sneak a peek of the first iteration in our hands-on video after the break.

Gallery: Colloidal Display hands-on

Continue reading Colloidal Display uses soap bubbles, ultrasonic waves to form a projection screen (hands-on video)

Filed under: Displays

Colloidal Display uses soap bubbles, ultrasonic waves to form a projection screen (hands-on video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Aug 2012 12:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jul 03

Soap bubble screen touted to be thinnest display in the world

Posted in: Today's Chili

I am quite sure that as a kid, you had your fair share of fun with those soap bubbles. These days, I see automated soap bubble blowers – even your kids need not build up their lung power any more, as all they need to do is dip the dipstick into a bottle of soap, pick it up, press a button and a built-in fan will do all of the blowing. Dogs and cats have had fun chasing down after these bubbles, and so did kids. Who would have figured out even remotely that the humble soap bubble could eventually be used as a display of some sort?

In fact, it has already picked up the moniker of being the ‘world’s thinnest display’ along the way, coined by no one else other than the team behind this transparent screen. This is made possible thanks to the research team who came up with new technology that is capable of projecting images onto a screen that is made up of nothing else but soap film. Just how does this work? We shall take a closer look after the jump to find out.

Basically, this international team managed to come up with this particular display by relying on ultrasonic sound waves that will change the film’s properties, resulting in either a flat or a 3D image. As for the bubble mixture used, you can say that it is somewhat akin to the one sold in stores for little kids, albeit with a far more complex chemical make up.

The team is quick off the mark to claim this as the world’s thinnest transparent screen, so you can more or less kiss those ultra slim Samsungs and LGs goodbye from their once lofty pedestals. Lead researcher, Yoichi Ochiai from the University of Tokyo, wrote, “It is common knowledge that the surface of soap bubble is a micro membrane. It allows light to pass through and displays the colour on its structure. We developed an ultra-thin and flexible BRDF [bidirectional reflectance distribution function, a four-dimensional function defining how light is reflected at an opaque surface] screen using the mixture of two colloidal liquids.”

No idea on when a commercially available version will arrive.

Source

[ Soap bubble screen touted to be thinnest display in the world copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]