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Giving Touch-Screen Buttons Depth and Height With Pneumatics
blee37 writes "Researchers at Carnegie Mellon demonstrate 'popping out' touch screen buttons to become physical buttons using pneumatics. The idea is to combine the dynamic reconfigurability of touch screen buttons with the tactile feedback of real buttons. The technology could be applied where tactile feedback is currently lacking, such as in car navigation systems, ATMs, or cell phones."
so there are pistons within the cell phone of the future? batteries don't stand a chance. and then you have to oil your phone.
missing the point. the object here is to have balloons in your phone that can fill up and deflate. this way when you let your baby girl play with your phone, she scratches at the 'button' until it pops.
I am left thinking "so what?". All they did was PROJECT graphics onto an inflatable surface, and used a camera and image recognition to determine which 'button' was being pressed.
I think it's a bit of a stretch to describe this as a 'touch screen'; the image is projected onto the surface (which could be true for ANY surface) and the surface itself does NOT detect touches. There is also no tactile feedback whatsoever. I might as well get one of those laser projection keyboards, set it up on the bonnet of my car and announce that I've made a "self-propelling air-conditioned touchscreen that seats four".
This is a substitute for a clever sig that fits within the maximum number of characters.
It will be great for people who can't drive. Like the blind or those with limited vision.
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
The killer app for this will of course be a Timex Sinclair 1000 emulator.
and their exploding work stations.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
I'm pretty sure the guy in front of me on the 520 bridge this morning was blind or of limited vision. He had his head up his ass and he sure as hell couldn't drive. Perhaps a tactile feed back GPS would help him - it wouldn't hurt.
All generalizations are false, including this one. Mark Twain
Real nipples get more of a rise out of me...
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