GHOST To Revolutionize Touchscreen Technology

If you keep up with our blog here at En-Touch.com, you’re probably well aware of some of the recent technological breakthroughs made in the touchscreen industry. Companies like Google, IBM and Apple are working to reshape this industry with new touchscreen technology. One such project involves a touchscreen device that’s able to project the touchscreen display onto any flat and even surface. But a new project, GHOST, is really attracting attention.

Originally launched in 2013, GHOST (Generic, Highly-Organic Shape-Changing Interfaces) is the brainchild of four separate Universities in the U.K., Holland and Denmark. So, what in the world is “GHOST” and how does it work?

The bold project is designed to create a new form of touchscreen technology that would allow users to pull digital objects from their touchscreen device into a 3D view, at which point they can turn and manipulate them while the objects are suspended in air. It may sound like something straight from a futuristic sci-fi movie, but researchers say they are steadily gaining ground on turning this vision into a reality.

What’s even more impressive is that, according to a press release, GHOST users can feel the digital objects while they are suspended in the air. So instead of just seeing the 3D designs that you are manipulating, you can actually feel them as well. This would obviously bring a new dynamic to touchscreen devices that has yet to been. Researchers say they’ve already successfully created the technology to manipulate shapes and remove objects from the screen, but there’s still more work to be done before we see GHOST-supported devices anytime soon.

When describing the new technology, one of the researchers behind GHOST said it’s not only about deforming the shape of an object but also about the manipulation of the object.

“It’s not only about deforming the shape of the screen, but also the digital object you want to manipulate, maybe even in mid-air,” explained GHOST Coordinator and University of Copenhagen Professor Kasper Hornbæk, in a statement. “Through ultrasound levitation technology, for example, we can project the display out of the flat screen. And thanks to deformable screens we can plunge our fingers into it.”

What do you think of GHOST? Love it or hate it?