This scenario may seem like science fiction, but research required to realize it has already begun, in a collaborative research project between Carnegie Mellon University and Intel. The goal of the project, which Intel has labeled Dynamic Physical Rendering (DPR), is to create a new form of media the researchers call pario-Greek for "to bring forth" or "to make."

What the researchers propose to make are moving, physical, three-dimensional replicas of people or objects, so lifelike that human senses would accept them as real. This would eliminate the need for cumbersome virtual reality gear and overcome the viewing angle limitations of modern 3D approaches. The replicas would mimic the shape and appearance of a person or object being imaged in real time, and as the originals moved, so would their replicas. These 3D models would be physical entities, not holograms. You could touch them and interact with them, just as if the originals were in the room with you.