Video Images Floating in The Air

By Roland Piquepaille

The Korea Times reports that "science fiction becomes reality with a new holograph machine." In fact, the devices developed by IO₂Technology look impressive. The Heliodisplay, which is about the size of a PC, is fed with images, swallows air and 'modifies' it. When the 'altered' -- but harmless -- air is ejected, it is illuminated to produce a continuous flow of 2D images. A first version, which can project floated images of 22 inches (55 centimeters) in the air, costs $18,600 -- including $9,000 payable in advance. Even if I agree with the writer of the story that this is an interesting new technology with many possible applications, it's interesting that the company itself says that "although the Heliodisplay uses lasers, the images are not holographic." Read more...

Here are two short paragraphs from the Korea Times story.

Developed by Chad Dyner at IO2, the surprisingly compact Heliodisplay, which is about the size of an average PC case laid on its side (and only a bit noisier), is said to intake air, 'alter' it, then expel it and use lasers to project the image onto the 'still invisible' conditioned air.

For obvious reasons, IO2 isn't revealing how it modifies the air, but say that its perfectly safe. The machine could run all day in a sealed room and the air would still be breathable. Some have speculated that the secret may lie in ionization.

IO₂Technology describes how the Heliodisplay works on this page.

Air comes into the device, is modified then ejected and illuminated to produce the image. Nothing is added to the air so there isn`t any harmful gas or liquid emitted from the device, and nothing needs to be refilled. Operating the device will not change a room`s environment, air quality or other conditions. If a Heliodisplay were left running for a week in a hermetically sealed room, the only change to the room`s environment would be from the electricity used to run the device.

Floating images can easily be viewed in an office environment, for a presentation for example. As you can see below, the Heliodisplay is pretty small.

Here is a link to a larger version of this prototype. And you can see other images and videos on this page.

IO2 says it has built devices able to project images ranging from from 12 to 105 centimeters. You can check all the specifications for a model able to project 55 centimeters -- and even buy one -- on this page.

For almost $20K, it's probably too expensive right now, except for uses in trade shows or museums. But if prices go down rapidly, which is almost a rule with this kind of technology, you might soon see one displaying a sales presentation in your company.

Sources: Peter Stephenson, The Korea Times, January 31, 2005; IO₂Technology website

Related stories can be found in the following categories.

• Displays
  
• Hardware
  
• Innovation
  
• Vision and Visualization