This is a beautiful and simple idea from the MIT media lab: on the input side dimensions and movement are measured, then sent through a network (presumptively the internet), and then output through actuators as the three dimensional shape that was input.
Here's a cool-action video from the MIT Media lab showing it in action:
With this simple model the empty (negative) space between the top of the object and the floor of the projector is lost -- the top surface/edge is a true image and then the space is filled in below. To remedy this defect the obvious solution is to use a balloon or other flexible sheet: on the output side the actuators or "pins" run inside the balloon and spread out spherically; on the input side the actuators (which can simply be a means for the computer/input apparatus to measure location in space) are on the outside. So, for example, let's suppose on the input side one puts on a tight latex glove with markers on it that are read by the machine and translated into spatial coordinates. On the output side, then, the balloon is deformed by the varying pressure of hundreds or thousands of pins and actuators to render a hand. Here's a very crude sketch I've whipped up in MS Word (yes, really, but I am in a hurry) to give a sense of the output side:
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