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Giving Touch-Screen Buttons Depth and Height With Pneumatics

Posted by timothy on from the wait-for-pneumatic-spam dept.

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."

13 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. Oh no... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is a BAD idea for in-car SatNav/GPS.

    Anything that might make drivers think they can set/adjust something by reaching and groping when they should be concentrating on driving will cause accidents.

    1. Re:Oh no... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As opposed to having to stare at the device.... yeah, much worse

  2. pistons! by cashX3r0 · · Score: 3, Funny

    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.

  3. Er by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Touch screens are nice because they can be programmed to display whatever controls you wish, but isn't the lack of moving parts another advantage? This seems like it would have MTBF issues.

  4. Why Not... by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Just make buttons that have a touch screen on them, thus you still have the scroll-ability and versatility of a touch screen, combined with the tacticle feedback of buttons when you want things to function like a button...

    Or am I completely missing the point?

  5. Visual feedback by Enderandrew · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I assumed I'd have issue with the touch keyboard on the iPhone. However, when I press a key, that key is highlighted and enlarges. I receive visual feedback of the key I pressed, even if I don't have physical feedback. Yes, it requires I look when I text, but I can't imagine many scenarios where I'd really ever text without looking just because there was some physical feedback.

    I'll take the lack of moving parts over the physical feedback, especially given how often I've dropped my phone.

    --
    http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
    1. Re:Visual feedback by fridaynightsmoke · · Score: 3, Informative

      Doesn't the iPhone vibrate slightly when it registers a 'touch'? My Nokia 5800 does that as standard, which is surprisingly useful as feedback. I would be surprised if the iPhone doesn't.

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  6. Pricetag? Reliability? by courteaudotbiz · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And what would be the actual pricetag of such a device? I understand that we use more and more electronics to simplify the mechanics behind our devices. Now, with a pump, you need to physically inject air under the screen, so you have moving parts, and they are usually costly... besides, what would be the reliability of such a thing? and could you get a "flat" screen?

  7. Having read TFA by fridaynightsmoke · · Score: 5, Funny

    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".

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    This is a substitute for a clever sig that fits within the maximum number of characters.
  8. ONE WORD: by Philip+K+Dickhead · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Nipples"

    --
    "Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
    1. Re:ONE WORD: by foobsr · · Score: 4, Interesting

      "Nipples"

      Quote:"PhotoelasticTouch is a tabletop system designed to facilitate touch-based interaction with real objects made from transparent elastic material. The elastic material provides a realistic haptic interface, which when combined with the visual content displayed on the LCD tabletop, enables a coupling of the physical world and digital content. The system utilizes the photoelastic properties of transparent rubber to detect when a user pushes, pulls, or pinches the object, while the LCD provides appropriate visual feedback in accordance with the stress applied to the rubber."

      Well.

      CC.

      --
      TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
  9. killer app by jjeffries · · Score: 5, Funny

    The killer app for this will of course be a Timex Sinclair 1000 emulator.

  10. This explains Star Trek by Shivetya · · Score: 3, Funny

    and their exploding work stations.

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