Tactile
To date most virtual reality devices have been focused on providing input for just two senses – sight and hearing - and while haptic technologies are on the march, we've yet to see a complete VR system that convincingly mimics all aspects of our perception. In a taste of what could be, last week at the Pioneer 09 science show in London researchers unveiled a mock-up of a virtual reality headset designed to stimulate all five senses. Read More
August 7, 2007 Man-machine interfaces have predominantly targeted the aural and visual senses but improving technology has opened up the potential for new levels of interaction based on touch. At SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group for Computer Graphics) this year, Haptic Telexistence will be demonstrating its latest sophisticated touch interface and providing a glimpse of the huge potential for haptic interfaces. Read More
May 9, 2007 Korean handset manufacturer Pantech will launch its new IM-R200 dual-LCD sliding phone onto the Korean market this month. The IM-R200 comes equipped with two screens – a 2 inch 260K QVGA TFT main display and a 1.6 inch 260K OLED touch-sensitive screen which replaces the standard keypad. When the phone is opened, the virtual keypad shows up on the touch-sensitive 1.6” 260K OLED LCD, allowing users to dial numbers and view contacts with the stroke of a finger. The advantage is that the touch screen keypad offers a fun and easy way to use its multimedia applications with separate and virtual interfaces for each function. For example, the touch sensitive LCD displays various lists of songs when the phone is used as a music player, while it shows camera functions when used as a camera. The capacitive touch screen vibrates when pressed, offering tactile feedback to give the feel of real buttons. Read More
January 18, 2007 Relevant feedback from an intelligent device is very important to the feel of that device, how you relate to it and how efficiently you use it. Immersion Corporation is the company that has enabled touch feedback technology to dominate video game interfaces and now we warrant, it’s set to do the same for mobile phones. The new Samsung SCH-W559 phone is the first to use Immersion's VibeTonz System to provide tactile feedback in response to touchscreen presses. VibeTonz offers a broad range of touch feedback effects to make user interface features, applications, and multimedia content more intuitive and engaging. For example, virtual onscreen buttons feel more like mechanical keys, and the phone’s full-fidelity, vibe-enhanced ringtones are help identify callers in noisy environments. So compelling and useful is the vibration feedback system that global research and consulting firm Strategy Analytics believes that “market conditions are almost ripe for an explosion in touchscreen phones”, and “by 2012, 40% of mobile phones could be using some form of touch sensitive technology. Read More
September 14, 2005 The Global Gaming Expo (G2E) in Las Vegas this week has seen the debut of an interesting new technology that enables touchscreens to generate tactile cues, promoting a more intuitive and engaging experience. Users perceive that on-screen buttons press and release as if they were physical buttons. In addition, TouchSense tactile sensations can be synchronized with sound and graphical images, creating a more immersive, multisensory experience. Quite clearly the technology will initially be used in the lucrative gambling industry, but we can expect much richer information kiosks and touch screen user interfaces in the future. Touchscreens are increasingly used in casino gaming devices to provide a direct and flexible user interface for on-screen buttons that dynamically change from screen to screen or game to game. Growing numbers of game machines let users choose from a variety of preloaded games. New technology will allow devices to be reconfigured by the operator in real time to tailor the mix offered to suit the time-of-day or clientele. Read More
February 9, 2005 A new printing attachment for Braille printers promises a new world for the sight-impaired and those who share their lives, enabling Braille documents to be shared with sighted colleagues, teachers, friends and family. The PIA prints the corresponding ink characters above or alongside the Braille embossing and allows for images to be embossed and printed. Anything that appears on the computer screen can quickly be made into a raised, printed image on paper with software translation of text to Braille in Microsoft Word and Excel. Read More
