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$5 Sensor Turns LCD Monitors Into Touchscreens
An anonymous reader writes with this snippet from ExtremeTech: "Researchers at the University of Washington's aptly named Ubiquitous Computing Lab can turn any LCD monitor in your house into a touchscreen, with nothing more than a $5 sensor that plugs into the wall and some clever software." The system works by measuring changes that your hand creates in the electromagnetic signature of the monitor. Surprisingly, it offers some pretty fine-grained detection, too: "full-hand touch, five-finger touch, hovering above the screen, pushing, and pulling." The "$5 sensor" part is mostly theoretical for now to those of us who don't live in a lab, though; on the other hand, "co-author Sidhant Gupta tells Technology Review that the $5 sensor uses off-the-shelf parts, and the algorithms are included in the paper, so it would be fairly easy for you — or a commercial entity — to recreate the uTouch system."
Because otherwise nobody would pay extra for a touch screen PC with Windows 8
Does it come with bourbon?
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
They looked at all options before selling touchscreens for massive amounts of money. Oh wait...
It's not really designed to have your finger smashing against it. It better have a hard surface.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Hopefully someone makes this a commercial product. I would gladly pay $20 for this.
Gorilla Arm ...
Well, more ...
Why people still believe that desktop computers are good as a touch device? That makes no sense for me, specially because the ugly fingerprints hehe. I love to *work* on my dual head desktop because the speed of keyboard and big resolution. If I have to use a touch device, it's not for work and not on a desktop, really.
Anyway, nice research, I have to say.
Is there any indication this will ever be able to detect position, as opposed to just the size and duration of something in proximity to the monitor?
This only detects 5 gestures and is not a full touch screen where it detects touches at different parts of the screen...
It can still be usefully for some applications but it is not a replacement for a touchscreen...
My first idea was that it should work even better in battery power devices, where the only device that uses power is the notebook/cellphone/whatever that uses lcd or display tech similar enough. But in the other hand, CPU/GPU/disk/fan etc also weights there. And shouldn't be them a factor in desktop PCs too?
If one can find a use for it, why not? It is totally dependent on a the situation.
I wonder if this could be added to an existing touch screen monitor or ATM monitor to steal user input? If anyone has any information on how to do that, I would be *very* interested. TIA.
I won't buy one of these until it PAYS me $5 every time I touch it. I really have no desire to touch my monitor.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
5$ sensor. $2,500 software license.
5$ sensor. 2,500$ software license.
Set one of these up, together with some surveillance, train the device to recognise the mark and where he is (in conjunction with the now mandatory CFL bulbs as well as the tv and computer screens) and when you gets to just the right place - let off the shaped charge. It's clean, capable of discerning whether there is any collateral damage potential (and wait until the mark is alone) and economical as well (only use just the charge you need).
This is bad, who wants gorilla arm from using their monitor? Monitors weren't designed to be touch interfaces for very good reasons. Unless your at a kiosk or a tablet, it's just not practical to use your arms that way. Leave gorilla arm to the 800 pound gorilla that is Steve Ballmer and Microsoft.
This kind of implementation only allows the system to detect whether the screen was touched or not. There is no directional or spatial information; it is _not_ like a regular handset touchscreen. The applications for this technology are very, very limited in the PC arena. Security companies might want to know, though.
No but it does come with uncomfortable silences.
I just touched my 27 inch LCD monitor and it was a bad experience. The screen looked like it deformed and pushing liquid to the side. Plus it left a greasy fingerprint. I wouldn't buy this thing for $5 or 5 cents.
...or I WILL punch you in the mouth. It's impossible to clean it up completely. Nor do I want to.
Non-Linux Penguins ?
...do you need fingers to operate it?
You see, I'm a parrot, and though touch screens are ok (if a little bothersome), I'm seriously annoyed at the Kinect on my new Xbox, which refuses to recognize my beak and toe movements. I wish people would just stick to keyboards; their wholesome nibblyness is superior to any other input device.
Why on earth would people want to jam their fingers into their screens? If it is to have some gesture based control, a much better solution is a decent trackpad, which in effect works as a proxy for the screen but in a more ergonomic location.
The difference between Canada and the USA is that in Canada healthcare is a right and gun ownership is a privilege.
Where can I buy the sensor ?
don't let apple get a hold of it, it would turn into a 200 dollar sensor.
I prefer comfortable silences.
If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
This is very cool and rather unique solution, but there is considerable lag between the input and the registration of the input. I don't see it being much useful beyond pause/play video or music or to wake up a computer from sleep. That being said, I love the spelling mistake in the powerpoint in the youtube video.
Or better yet stop trying to add touch screen to a desktop computer. Even a laptop doesn't need it. There are plenty of places where it makes sense. This is not one of them. Finger prints and interfering with what is on the screen ( transparent arms don't exist yet ) make it seem useless to me. Yes pleas add motion sensor to my keyboard ( where my hands are already ) but don't ask me to keep reaching for a remote screen to do things I can already do easily enough or even easier with existing technology.
Some people want to hate touch, even when it becomes just another cheap component. To me, its like 3D. Its nice to have, and I enjoy it from time to time, but its not a premium item and it better be cheap/free AND not take away from more important functionality.
Good-bye
To assuage the gorilla arm issue it seems this tech could be configured to make your desktop a large touch pad. A piece of desk glass and some thin wires.....
Facts take all of the premium out of arm waving - T. Reynolds
It works by looking at HF signal on power lines. I though FCC regulations prevented devices from sending HF signals on power lines, but obviously it tolerates some remains.
I wonder how it can be used to extract informations from the computer: what is displayed, what key are pressed, what data is computed?
the $5 sensor uses off-the-shelf parts, and the algorithms are included in the paper, so it would be fairly easy for you — or a commercial entity — to recreate the uTouch system and then pay a nice fat royalty to the patent owners for the next 20 years who won't surface until your product is successful.
I can see it being useful though it shouldn't be the primary means of input. I'd not say that it doesn't belong on the desktop but I'd say that it is not the best method for long term data input and data manipulation. An example where this could be valuable would be someone walking over to your computer and wanting to show you something to ask you a question. They could reach out, "grab" something, and drag it to another area of the screen for example. So, in a limited example where you sometimes have more than one person at a monitor it would be easier for this (and better, I think - perhaps, depending) than for them to grab your mouse or keyboard.
It certainly isn't the best and I am not sure anyone is advocating it as the soul source. But, I think it as a stretch to say it doesn't belong. I'd say it isn't a requirement (or the best method for input and manipulation) but it could come in handy for some people. If $5 speeds up collaboration then I'm all for it.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
...for the screen cleaner & cloth that comes with it.
You should get the device. It'll help you practice for that mythical future when a woman might allow you to 'touch' her.
Don't complain about syntax, grammar, or spelling. There is no.hell like input on android.
I think some people just have oily skin. I can wash my hands like a surgeon but if I touch a glass 15 minutes later ... greasy fingerprint.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."