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Textured Tactile Touchscreens
HizookRobotics writes "A new covering developed by Senseg and Toshiba Information Systems gives touchpads, LCDs, and other curved surfaces (eg. cellphones) programmable texture using a high-resolution electrotactile array — a grid of electrodes that excite nerves in the skin with small pulses of current to trick the body into perceiving texture, pressure, or pin-pricks depending on the current amplitude and electrode resolution. The new covering has many potential applications: interactive gaming, touchscreens with texture, robot interfaces, etc."
It would be nice if this could be developed into a way to simulate a keyboard on a touchscreen. All these multitouch devices are great to use, but it can be a pain to type on them, so a way to give tactile feedback on what is a key vs two keys, would help a lot.
Can it be modified to present the user with the experience of, say, 1000 volts at about 20 amps?
I'll take 1,000 please.
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Maybe I'm in a minority, but I already feel an odd sensation of "pain" when I use that odd textured (array of bumps?) on some netbook touchpads. It's a weird radiating electrical buzz feeling up and into my wrist when I slide my finger across it. I know there is no pain and it's just an odd nerve interpretation, but it exists for me none-the-less. I'd hate to use something like that on a regular basis and it sounds like they are trying to replicate that exact feeling on touch devices. No thank you!