The world’s first interactive holographic display has been unveiled – you can “spin” a car and more in it

A group of scientists from Spain has presented the world’s first interactive holographic display, the image on which can be manipulated using hands. The image is created in the air, and the hand seems to be immersed in it, allowing it to be rotated, moved and otherwise manipulated. Such a display is suitable for training, demonstration and museum halls and simply for entertainment. A live demonstration of the display will take place in Japan at the end of April.

Image source: UPNA

«”What we see in movies and call holograms are usually volumetric images,” explained lead author Elodie Bouzbib of the National University of Navarra (UPNA). “These are graphics that appear in the air and can be viewed from different angles without the need for virtual reality glasses. These are real 3D graphics. They are particularly interesting because they allow the use of the “approach and interact” paradigm, meaning that users simply approach the device and start using it.”

Displays with 3D images already exist. You can argue about their perfection, but there has never been such a volumetric display, the image on which could be manipulated simply by hand – without a mouse, joystick or touch screen. It is somewhat similar to interaction with a touch screen, but it is much more complex.

Typically, holographic displays project onto a rapidly oscillating diffuser in the form of a sheet. The image is projected onto it at high speed – up to 2880 frames per second. The persistence of vision helps to form a three-dimensional image in the mind, since the brain combines parts of the image that appear at different heights at different moments in the trajectory of the sheet’s movement.

If the diffuser is solid and rigid, you can’t interact with it — it can break or cause injury if it’s too strong. So the scientists replaced the solid diffuser with strips of elastic material, making it possible to lower your hand and fingers into a three-dimensional figure in the air. This complicated the projection system, since the elastic elements of the screen stretched and compressed during vibrations, which distorted the image. But the result was justified: the display was able to create three-dimensional images in the air, into which you could literally plunge your hand, grab the object and interact with it.

The demonstration of the setup will be held at the CHI 2025 conference, which will be held in Yokohama, Japan, from April 26 to May 1. More than 4,000 researchers are expected to attend the event, including representatives from Microsoft, Meta✴, Apple, and Adobe.