A team of scientists led by the University of Bristol have developed a new type of screen composed of nine smaller panels that physically tilt and contort thus giving the impression of depth. The display surface is said to be half the size of a standard tablet and each individual screen can be tilted or moved up and down.
photo credit: gizmag.com
While it is true that at this point, the so-called Tilt Displays are a 3×3-screen prototype, it is not impossible to develop one with tens or hundreds, maybe even thousands of smaller individual screens that can turn the surface into an undulating display depicting every possible contour.
Bristol University’s Department of Computer Science presented their newly-developed prototype at MobileHCI 2012, a major conference which was set in San Francisco’s Westin St. Francis Hotel from September 21 to 24. The event is a leading conference in the field of Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services. It serves as a forum for academicians and practitioners where it is possible to discuss the challenges and possible solutions towards more effective interaction with mobile devices and services.
Sriram Subramanian, Professor of Human-Computer Interaction in the Department of Computer Science’s Interaction and Graphics group and co-chair of the MobileHCI 2012, said in a press release that "The ability to tilt along multiple axes distinguishes our display from previous actuatable displays. Such screen versatility opens a range of opportunities for providing an additional integrated information channel to the user.†Indeed the possibilities presented by this new prototype are both exciting and limitless.