Flexible Computers in the Future? 229
An anonymous reader writes "New Scientist is reporting on Sony bendable input devices. When computers become too small to be operated by buttons, how will we control them? The only option will be to gently bend them, according to engineers at Sony's Interaction Lab in Tokyo." The diagrams make it look like a warped Game Boy. Looks pretty cool, though.
Break easy (Score:0, Informative)
Re:Any ideas how this would work in real life? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What's the lifespan? (Score:5, Informative)
You're halfway right.
When a material is deformed by stretching, compressing, twisting, or bending (which is really a combination of stretching and compressing), there is a region called the elastic region where the material will return to its original size and shape when the force deforming it is released. Beyond the elastic region is the plastic region, where the material will remain deformed. If the material is deformed in such a way that the deformation never reaches the plastic region, the material(with a few exceptions) can be cycled (deformed and returned) infinitely without failing. The amount beyond the elastic region that the material is deformed determines how long the material will last. Think about bending a paper clip or a pencil in your hands.
There's a whole field of study devoted to understanding this process better, and to make the existing equations fit the real world better.
Any inaccuracies or typos are because I'm tired and it's late, feel free to correct me if you know what you're talking about.b
Quite long, I suspect (Score:3, Informative)
It seems, for example, that even bending the device once will result in *some* retention of that bent shape. This establishes what is minimally the initial lower threshold for registering an intentional 'bend'.
However, consider even the common household rubber band. Even if stretched to two or three times its originally length repeatedly, while there will be some net increase in its length at rest, that increase will be only a small fraction of the length it may be repeatedly extended to.
If the flexible portion of this device which is intended to register user input is composed of a similar, though certainly more durable substance, there should be relatively little concern of the device becoming non-functional due to any permanent retention of the extended shape, any time within its useful life.
It would, I suppose, just be a matter of identifying for that particular substance what threshold value for the registering of user input results in the best balance between registering only intentional bends and the corresponding net percentage retention of the extended or bent shape.
Video Link (karmaless) (Score:2, Informative)
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A prototype demonstration ... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What's the lifespan? (Score:3, Informative)
I'm sure I recall something like this in dealing with the lifetimes of pressure cylinders - the cylinder doesn't show exhibit plastic deformation, but it only has a finite number of cycles (i.e. number of times you can fill it and empty it)