10 tech research projects to watch

January 07, 2012, 7:43 AM — Research firms wowed us in 2011, delivering tablets, ultrathin laptops, innovative cloud services, and voice command digital assistants. Not so long ago, the research underlying these products was nothing more than innovation and development projects. So, in an effort to peek into our not-so-distant tech future, here's a glimpse at ten promising projects percolating in tech research labs.

The scenes at Microsoft

I'll take you behind the scenes at Microsoft, IBM, and university labs where researchers are experimenting with a range of fascinating research that may appear in future consumer products. Look forward to 3D images you can "touch," touchscreens that get sticky, robotic astronauts, and -- yes -- even flying cars.

The device uses an overhanging screen to project a 2D image through a beam splitter into the viewing area. A user's hands and face are tracked via Microsoft's Xbox Kinect research and a webcam, to help keep the holographic illusion in sync with the user's physical spatial relationship to the viewing area.

Another Microsoft Technology project called PocketTouch is being developed with the goal of enabling users to manipulate a touch device through clothing and other materials. The idea with PockTouch is that you could use finger gestures to control the cell phone in your pants pocket. With a flick of a finger, you could send a call to voice mail, skip a song playing on the phone, or send canned text replies to inbound messages.

PocketTouch research uses a capacitive sensor mounted on the back of your touch device that Microsoft says lets you navigate your pocketed phone using gestures without ever having to remove it from its case.

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