Typing and playing games are more convenient: OLED screens that use liquid to create "physical buttons" are available.
CTOnews.com, April 27, have you ever had the experience that when typing or playing games on your phone or tablet, the virtual keys on the screen are not as sensitive as physical keyboards or handles? Would it be amazing if there was a screen that could produce raised buttons at any time according to your needs? This is not science fiction, but a new display technology created by Craig Shultz and Chris Harrison, researchers of the Future Interface Group (FIG) at Carnegie Mellon University.
This technology, called "flat panel tactile" (Flat Panel Haptics), can stack an embedded electroosmotic pump (EEOP) that can be filled with liquid at the bottom of the OLED screen. The part of the screen can be filled with liquid as needed, so that the surface of the screen protrudes into different shapes in different positions, up to 1.5mm, enough to make a difference. In this way, you can add a new tactile dimension to various applications, such as pop-up media control buttons, keyboards and virtual game consoles, so that you can feel the presence of physical buttons when you touch the screen. The team says it takes about a second to fill each area and feels solid to the touch.
CTOnews.com notes that the technology is not the first innovation to try to deform the screen. There have been similar concepts before, such as Tactus's up-and-down touchscreen keyboard, but it ends up with a thick iPad mini case. FIG prototypes can take on more diverse and dynamic shapes and sizes, and the research team says their version is thinner, lighter and more flexible than previous attempts. "the main advantage of this approach is that the entire mechanical system exists in a compact and lightweight form," FIG said in the demo video.
At present, this technology is still in the prototype stage, and the raised buttons are limited in shape and size, which reduces their versatility. But if the same principle can be applied to a floor with more and smaller raised buttons in the future, it may open up new possibilities for user interaction, including easier on-screen typing, games, car control, and even auxiliary functions. like Braille on the screen.
It is not known when this technology will be put into commercial use, but it will undoubtedly bring a new experience to touch the screen, so that our fingertips are no longer just sliding and clicking on the plane, but can feel the change and feedback of the screen.
