Saw this project, called Relief at the TEI conference, but didn’t have chance to take a video as I was busy at my poster (so was glad to spot this one). It Looks like an interesting take on 3D-terrain tangibles.

Relief is an actuated tabletop display, which is able to render and animate three-dimensional shapes with a malleable surface. It allows users to experience and form digital models like geographical terrain in an intuitive manner. The tabletop surface is actuated by an array of 120 motorized pins, which are controlled with a platform built upon open-source hardware and software tools. Each pin can be addressed individually and senses user input like pulling and pushing.

If you like this project, it’s also worth looking at another project from the MIT media lab called Sandscape.

[via: Make: Online : Relief: 3D interactive maps]