Tingly projections make beamed gadgets come alive

摘要

It's a creepy sensation, having a little keyboard permanently emblazoned on the back of my hand. No matter what I do - shake my hand or wave it -I can't make it go away. Creepier still are the soft tingles on my skin as each "key" is pressed, like a low-frequency electronic buzz. I am in Masatoshi Ishikawa's lab at the University of Tokyo, Japan, where the latest in interactive projections is being demonstrated for the first time. The set-up is in two parts: one is a projection that beams the outline of computer keyboards or cellphone keys onto any object, such as your hand.