It seems that the realm of adult entertainment may be in for some significant changes in the near future, thanks to a new advancement that lets a person interact with a digital projection on a physical level, the Daily Star reports.
According to the newspaper, a team of researchers from the University of Sussex led by Dr. Ryuji Hirayama has succeeded in creating holograms that can be touched, essentially producing "a true virtual reality" which one can experience without the need for special gloves and goggles.
"Our new technology takes inspiration from old TVs which use a single colour beam scanning along the screen so quickly that your brain registers it as a single image," says Dr. Hirayama. "Our prototype does the same using a coloured particle that can move so quickly anywhere in 3D space that the naked eye sees a volumetric image in mid-air".
And with the addition of ultra-sound, such a hologram emitter can apparently produce a "sensation on the skin that feels exactly like touch".
"Even if not audible to us, ultrasound is still a mechanical wave and it carries energy through the air," said Dr. Diego Martinez Placencia, a member of the research team. "Our prototype directs and focuses this energy, which can then stimulate your ears for audio, or stimulate your skin to feel content."
And while this advancement may soon cause a veritable revolution in entertainment, the first field it will likely be applied is going to be "sex tech", the newspaper suggests, arguing that the invention allows one to "not only create any person we desired, but any sex toy as well".