Watch a Dazzling Screen Made of Thousands of Flying Beads
Edwards, a Harvard University biomedical engineer and serial inventor, believes his Atom Screen will change how people look at screens—literally and figuratively. He designed the low-resolution display to elicit an emotion, not achieve precision.
The Atom Screen is one of a handful of concepts advancing screen technology. The Ariana by Razer immerses gamers in a virtual world by projecting the scene onto walls. Tanvas and Bosche developed monitors that feature haptic feedback to simulate texture. Edwards’ screen seems almost low-tech in comparison, yet the underlying technology remains delightfully nerdy. The screen uses two panes of translucent plastic about an inch apart and filled with about five quarts of polystyrene beads suspended in air like the balls in a lotto machine. The beads act like pixels—when light hits them, they reflect it with an almost holographic dimensionality.
The beads move in swarms, “almost like a ballet,” says Laurent Milon, a designer with Millimeter. He directs them using an app that controls 70 small fans that line the perimeter of the screen. Each blows a precise stream of ionized air, and the beads either float through the air or stick to the electrostatic panels.
See the full story here: https://www.wired.com/2017/03/atom-screen/