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Technology

Concept Touchscreen Uses Temperature To Create Feel of Friction (gizmodo.com) 18

Posted by BeauHD from the artificially-physical dept.
Researchers at Texas A&M have come up with a novel way for touchscreens to feel more than just perfectly smooth by fooling a user's sense of touch through temperature changes. Gizmodo reports: In a recently published paper in the Science Robotics journal, they found that by regulating the temperature of the surface of a touchscreen, they can increase or decrease the amount of friction a finger feels like it's experiencing. The sensation of friction can be increased by as much as 50% by increasing a touchscreen's surface temperature from 23 degrees Celsius to 42 degrees Celsius, while the actual temperature changes are imperceptible to the user, assuming they're sticking to taps or quick swipe gestures on the screen.

The current prototypes don't facilitate temperature adjustments in fine detail, but the eventual goal is to be able to manipulate and quickly change the temperature on any region of a touchscreen so that as a finger is sliding across it the changes in friction that are felt fool the brain into thinking it's feeling physical buttons like keyboards, playback controls, even joysticks and action buttons for gaming.
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Concept Touchscreen Uses Temperature To Create Feel of Friction

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  • I cannot see a touchscreen using heat in this manner. At least not in temperate climates. Not only is it battery intensive to generate heat, but so much effort is made to keep heat away from sensitive chips. They might have to put a fan on the touch screen just to keep the chips safe.

    If we are talking applications in more northern areas - Alaska, Siberia, Canada, etc, that might be a different story. In an area where no heat is 'wasted', but instead is used to keep the living or work environment liva

    • Maybe they don't intend to use it with a battery and nowhere near the rest of the system.
      You know, as a desktop monitor or in a kiosk.

    • I cannot see a touchscreen using heat in this manner. At least not in temperate climates. Not only is it battery intensive to generate heat, but so much effort is made to keep heat away from sensitive chips.

      Oh it's way worse than that. To create a high friction surface next to a low friction surface will force the screen away from thermal equilibrium. There will need to be a hot spot next to a cold spot, and they will naturally want to be the same temperature. The second law of thermodynamics [wikipedia.org] means such a screen will produce a lot of entropy. It will be extremely power hungry, and need a big heat sink somewhere on the device.

      Thermal management on such a device will be a disaster. The battery will have to

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • It's been 7 years-- and this has disappeared.

    https://www.vox.com/2015/2/12/... [vox.com]

    Hereâ(TM)s how Phorm works:

    The case comes in three pieces. Thereâ(TM)s a bottom cover that snaps onto the back of the iPad mini, a clear middle panel that goes on the tabletâ(TM)s display like a screen protector and, finally, a front bezel. The middle piece is where the magic happens.

    Though only about a millimeter thick, the panel has built-in channels that are filled with a non-toxic, non-flammable liquid. By slidi

    • Smidge more
      https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobi... [cnet.com]

      So how do keys appear out of nowhere? It starts with a panel that has channels built into it. The channels are filled with a non-toxic fluid. By increasing the pressure in the channels, the fluid pushes up the surface of the panel, creating an actual key. What's more, Tactus says the pressure will be adjustable, so the keys could feel a bit squishy, like a gel pack or they could be harder, like the plastic keys on a laptop.

  • Its more precise , and theres less of a infection control issue.

  • "Sensation can be increase by as much as 50%" -- OF COURSE it's going to feel hotter and you'll feel like you touched something hot! The temperature shift from 23C to 42C is from 73F to 108F !!!

    If you've ever say, "gosh it's hot outside... oh, it's 108 FAHRENHEIT!" then you're part of the... 50%... who can feel heat, I guess.

    TIL Almost 50% of study participants would say, "gosh that's hot!" and not keep their fingers pressed on a button icon. /s

  • Explain to me how the friction matters at all for a touchscreen.

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but once I've felt the friction, I've already touched the screen and activated the "button".

    If I can't use it without looking at it, then it's not helpful.

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