A Touch Screen With Morphing Buttons 160
Al writes "Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have created a touch screen that can also produce physical buttons. Graduate student Chris Harrison and professor Scott Hudson use a projector and infrared sensor below the screen to illuminate it and make it touch-sensitive, and the physical buttons are created using air pumps below the surface. They say this type of screen could be particularly useful when a simple, flat touch-screen is too distracting, for example in a vehicle dashboard."
This fixes touchscreens (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Full of hot air (Score:3, Interesting)
This is just Gen-1. I can imagine an array of small buttons, closely spaced, that can be raised en masse to simulate larger buttons. Use a piezoelectric fan to provide the air to the buttons one at a time, just like you direct electrons to a CRTs phosphers.
Slashdot logins are busted (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm getting a lot of other people's accounts - including their private, unpublished emails and mod points.
WTF?
Nokia is doing it better (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/11/07/nokia-introduces-haptikos-touch-feedback-technology/ [mydigitallife.info]
The technology in this article isn't scalable, and the "touch screen" isn't transparent, it just has stuff projected onto it from below. The Nokia solution involves piezo sensor pads under the screen and engineered in a 0.1mm movement in the screen itself.
Not that I will ever purchase a phone that doesn't have actual physical buttons on it for when (not if, WHEN) the touchscreen breaks down. I'm just saying.
Will drain your battery in 0.3 nanoseconds (Score:3, Interesting)
It's just a proof of concept, ok.
But the concept itself suffers a major limitation: any pressurized, pneumatic-based approach will consume too much power to be eligible for a portable device - where battery life is usually key.
Not coming to your iPhone anytinme soon.
Re:Slashdot logins are busted (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah, same here. Talk about a security problem...
Re:This fixes touchscreens (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd love to see it used in ATMs and self checkouts.
My first thought was that it would be perfect for the Tesla Model S. [gizmodo.com]
Re:Full of hot air (Score:1, Interesting)
EVERYTHING is "just another component to fail". EVERYTHING. Yes, *that* too. EVERY THING. At least this might keep some idiot from having to stare at his GPS screen when it accidentally reboots and gives the huge "Caution" warning screen.
Re:Full of hot air (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah... I thought the same thing - although granted, this is just "proof of concept" stage, right now.
It's also worth considering, though, the fact that this system allows for another "button state" you don't generally have with physical buttons. You have "raised", "flat" (no air compressor running), AND "convex" where the compressor is creating a vacuum, sucking the surface inwards.
Maybe that could be put to creative/good use?
Many applications are possible (Score:4, Interesting)