One of the best parts of the Iron Man movie series is Tony Stark’s lab/workshop. He’s got these crazy Minority Report-style 3D gesture-driven interfaces that allow him to physically manipulate a digital projection. It looks awesome in the movie, and it sounds really futuristic, but the fact is, we have the technology to do this in real life, right now, and it’s not even that expensive.
Everyone’s favorite Tony Stark wannabe, Elon Musk, put together this quick video to show his system actually working.
This is all possible today. The main component is the Leap Motion Controller, a $100 gadget that connects to your computer and lets you gesture in mid-air to control your computer. The rest is just different software and projection options.
The 3D printer is relatively affordable, as well, depending on what you want to print and how big/complex it is. RadioShack sells the Afinia H-Series 3D printer for $1599.99 right now.
Ricky Cadden 