The physician can rotate the three-dimensional image and look at it from all angles merely by pointing a finger. Photo: Fraunhofer HHI

November 7, 2007 The use of 3D imaging in the medical field has proven to be a boon to doctors when diagnosing patients, and 3D models of the human body have assisted medical manufacturers in developing better medical devices and treatments. Now researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich-Hertz-Institut HHI in Berlin have developed a display that combines a 3-D screen with a non-contact user interface that allows images to be rotated by hand gestures much like the display Tom Cruise played with in the film Minority Report.