A team of researchers at Texas A&M University tries to advertise the event of technology that may result in improved touchscreens that enable us to “feel” objects. This latest technology would proceed to bring us further than a tool that only feels and reacts to the touch, and so they do that by higher defining how the finger interacts with such a tool.
The team is made by Dr. Cynthia Hipwell, who’s a professor on the university's mechanical engineering department.
Research was published within the magazine last month Advanced materials.
New sort of human machine interface
The aim of the team is to develop a human-machine interface that provides touch devices the chance to supply users an interactive touch-based experience. You can achieve this by developing technology that may imitate the sensation of physical objects.
According to Hipwell, there are lots of potential applications equivalent to an immersive virtual reality platform (VR), the tactile ad surfaces equivalent to those in a motorized vehicle fittings board might be displayed. It could also enable a virtual shopping experience by which users can actually feel the feel of materials over the device before buying.
“This could enable them to really feel textures, buttons, foils and buttons on the screen,” said Hipwell. “It might be used for interactive touchscreen-based displays, but a sacred grail will surely have the option to bring shopping to shopping so that you would be able to feel the feel of materials and other products when buying online.”
Refined within the haptic technology
Hipwell says that the “touch aspect” of the present touchscreen technology is definitely more for the screen than the user. However, this relationship between user and device can now be more mutual because of the creation and refinement of haptic technology.
By adding touch as a sensory input, the virtual environments might be enriched and communication that’s currently promoted by audio and visuals can alleviate.
“If we take a look at virtual experiences, they’re currently primarily audio and visual and we will get audio and visual overload,” said Hipwell. “If you’re able within the interface between humans and the machine, you possibly can reduce lots more skills and way more realism and overload. Haptic effects might be used to attract your attention to seek out something or make it easier in case you perform a lower cognitive burden.”
The team deals with an incredibly complex interface that changes depending on the user and environmental conditions.
“We consider electronic wine effects (the forces result from an created electrical field), electrostatic effects, properties of the properties of the finger, material properties and the surface geometry of the device, the contact mechanics, the liquid movement, the load transport.” Ultimately, our goal is to create predictive models that enable a designer with maximum To create a haptic effect and minimal sensitivity to user and ambient variations. “
Hipwell believes that these characteristics might be converted into common devices in the following few years.
“I believe early elements will certainly be inside the following five years,” said Hipwell. “Then it’s going to only be about mature the technology and as progressive, how realistic and the way widespread it becomes.”
