Elliott18t
07-17-2009, 12:27 PM
http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/bubble-buttons-470-0709.jpg
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/upgrade/4324960.html
The whole point of a beautiful slab of touchscreen like that on the iPhone or Microsoft Surface is that it doesn't have buttons. But what if touchscreens could have temporary, pop-up buttons when necessary, that could appear one moment and disappear the next?
By Jennifer Wright
Published in the August 2009 issue.
Touchscreens allow for endlessly adjustable interfaces—well, nearly endless. You can’t operate a touchscreen by feel alone, although engineers working in the field of haptics have used vibrating virtual buttons to provide limited tactile feedback. Now, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have gone a bit further, designing a screen with hidden latex air bubbles. When buttons are needed, an air pump pops the bubbles up into physical keys. The team tested the technology in a driving simulator, a situation where users don’t—and shouldn’t—devote full attention to electronic displays on GPS and audio systems. “There were only a quarter as many glances away from the road as there were with the touchscreen,” Chris Harrison, a graduate student at CMU who worked on the project, says. Volkswagen is interested in the buttons, according to the researchers. And the technology could eventually find its way into Braille-enabled gadgets.
hmm this is interesting, especially(at least to me) that Volkswagen is interested in the technology.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/upgrade/4324960.html
The whole point of a beautiful slab of touchscreen like that on the iPhone or Microsoft Surface is that it doesn't have buttons. But what if touchscreens could have temporary, pop-up buttons when necessary, that could appear one moment and disappear the next?
By Jennifer Wright
Published in the August 2009 issue.
Touchscreens allow for endlessly adjustable interfaces—well, nearly endless. You can’t operate a touchscreen by feel alone, although engineers working in the field of haptics have used vibrating virtual buttons to provide limited tactile feedback. Now, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have gone a bit further, designing a screen with hidden latex air bubbles. When buttons are needed, an air pump pops the bubbles up into physical keys. The team tested the technology in a driving simulator, a situation where users don’t—and shouldn’t—devote full attention to electronic displays on GPS and audio systems. “There were only a quarter as many glances away from the road as there were with the touchscreen,” Chris Harrison, a graduate student at CMU who worked on the project, says. Volkswagen is interested in the buttons, according to the researchers. And the technology could eventually find its way into Braille-enabled gadgets.
hmm this is interesting, especially(at least to me) that Volkswagen is interested in the technology.