Interactive computer screens made from mist could become a feature of future office conference rooms if a new technology developed by researchers at the University of Bristol in the UK takes off.
The university's Professor Sriram Subramanian and Dr Diego Martinez Plasencia have developed a tabletop system called MisTable, combining a conventional interactive table with personal screens, which are projected onto a curtain of fog that hovers between the user and the tabletop surface.
These personal screens are both see-through and reach-through. The see-through feature allows the user to see both the personal screen and the elements behind it on the table-top. The reach-through feature allows them to switch from interacting with the personal screen to reach through it to interact with the tabletop or the space above it.
The personal screen enables a range of customisations and interactions such as presenting 2D personal content on the screen, 3D content above the tabletop or supplementing and renewing actual objects differently.