Tag Archives: tactile

Tactus to Release Tactile Touchscreen Keyboard Case for the iPad Mini

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Ever since I found out about Tactus a couple of years ago I’ve been looking forward to trying out its tactile touchscreen technology. It looks like that time is close at hand. Tactus’ first consumer product is a case for the iPad Mini that adds its retractable buttons to the tablet.

tactus tablet tactile touchscreen 620x398magnify

The image above does not show the upcoming iPad Mini case; it’s a screenshot from Tactus’ 2013 CES demo, which you can watch below.  According to Business Insider, the iPad Mini case will have a switch that lets it “push out transparent, physical buttons over the iPad’s standard keyboard. The keys can appear and disappear almost instantly.”

If you’re hoping for Tactus’ technology to appear on other touchscreen devices as well, don’t worry. The company is working to have its product appear on as many devices as possible. Check out their 2014 CES concept video to see what they hope to accomplish:

Tactus’ iPad Mini case will be released later this year and will cost around $80 to $100 (USD). VentureBeat reports that Tactus will release its own tablet as early as next year.

[via Business Insider & VentureBeat via BGR]

Touchy-feely Hearing Aid

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Conventional hearing aids come with a lot of short comings. Loud noises making the wearer feel irritable, the awkwardness of wearing bigger sized hearing aids and many more. The CLOSE is an attempt at an alternative system to provide speech input to the hearing impaired by means of tactile sensations.

Fashioned like a stylish smart watch, CLOSE has been claimed to possess the capability to analyze and convert auditory signals into tactile sensations. It aims to achieve tactile communication by means of electrode arrays that simulates the feeling of touch on the wrist. The designers are confident that human brain could decipher these tactile inputs into speech patterns. CLOSE can also share information with a smartphone via Bluetooth linking.

The CLOSE concept would be a great invention if it could work perfectly as claimed by the designers. Because, not only can this be an alternative to hearing aids, but also help people with cochlear damage and zero hearing abilities.

Designers: Zhengmu Fang, Liang Wenshan & Liu Junming

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(Touchy-feely Hearing Aid was originally posted on Yanko Design)

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Fujitsu Tablet Prototype Lets You Feel Rough and Smooth Textures on Screen

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Fujitsu has rolled out a prototype tablet that has a cool bit of tech inside. The tablet has haptic sensory technology inside that allows you to feel images on the screen. Users are able to feel smooth or rough textures depending on what is displayed on the screen.

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The tablet uses ultrasonic vibrations to create a cushion of high-pressure air between the finger and the screen. That air acts like a cushion and makes the screen feel very smooth. Depending on what image is on the screen, the vibrations can be rapidly cycled to create the feeling of a rough surface.

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Fujitsu is showing the tech off at Mobile World Congress 2014 with several images that do things like allow the user to feel the skin of an alligator, pluck virtual strings on a harp, or feel the sensation of opening a combination lock.

Disney Research Simulates 3D Geometry on Touch Surfaces: Touch & Feel Screen

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The geniuses at Disney Research are obsessed with touch-based input. One of their latest breakthroughs is an algorithm that can “simulate rich 3D geometric features (such as bumps, ridges, edges, protrusions, texture etc.) on touch screen surfaces.” In other words, it provides the feeling of touching a 3D object even though the user is only touching a flat surface. Someday we’ll know what an Angry Bird feels like.

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To prove that their algorithm works, Seung-Chan Kim, Ali Israr and Ivan Poupyrev of Disney Research Pittsburgh used an “electro-vibration based friction display.” The display emits a voltage that simulates the friction that our hands would feel if we were actually touching the object shown in the image or video. The researchers say that they can get depth maps from 3D models or from a depth sensor such as Kinect.

Combine this with the Oculus Rift and adult films – er videogames will attain a higher level of realism.

[via Disney Research via Reddit]

Disney’s AIREAL Creates Tactile Feedback in Mid-Air

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The technical magicians at Disney Research are at it once more. This time, they’re working on a technology which allows users to feel sensations without actually having to touch a surface.

disney aireal air haptic feedback

AIREAL is a combination of hardware and software which can create tiny air vortexes in 3D space. It was developed by researchers Rajinder Sodhi, Ivan Poupyrev, Matthew Glisson, and Ali Israr. A set of these small haptic-feedback devices can be used in combination with gesture-based control devices to let users feel sensations and virtual textures while interacting with their computers and video game systems. This is truly some science fiction stuff made real.

Check out some examples of AIREAL in action in the clip below:

Pretty amazing concept, no? Wouldn’t it be cool to combine this with a head-mounted display like the Oculus Rift? The wind could blow in your hair as you run through a virtual world, or you could feel bullets whizzing by when you’re being shot at. Crazy stuff. Or it might just turn up in a next generation of Disney’s Haunted Mansion – where you can actually feel the ghosts surrounding you. Hopefully the Disney Research guys talk to the Imagineers.

You can read the entire research paper on AIREAL here. [PDF]

Reactive Grip Haptic Feedback Motion Controller Adds Shake Shake to Pew Pews

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I don’t really care much for tactile feedback in videogames, but if you’re into that sort of immersion, Tactical Haptics is working on a device that’s right up your alley. At the 2013 Game Developers Conference, the company showed off a prototype motion controller with a unique haptic feedback system.

tactical haptics reactive grip prototype controller

The company calls its technology Reactive Grip. The current prototype, which uses parts from a Razer Hydra motion controller, has four bars on the grip that can move up and down independently of each other. Not only does it look like a naughty toy, apparently it’s also great at emulating a sense of weight and movement.

It seems like many people believe that first-person games will continue to be central to the future of gaming, what with technologies like the Reactive Grip as well as the Oculus Rift. I’m waiting for floor tiles that light up and a machine that spews numbers into the air to make tactical RPGs more immersive.

[via Ubergizmo via Bit Rebels]

Tactus Touchscreen Tablet Has a Keyboard You Can Really Feel

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Last year, we showed you an early prototype of technology from Tactus Technology which can turn a flat screen into a tactile surface. Now, at CES 2013, Tactus is showing off a full 7-inch tablet that uses the technology to dynamically add a keyboard to the screen only when needed.

tactus tactile tablet

This breakthrough tech is truly the stuff of science-fiction, adding a keyboard you can actually feel beneath your fingertips when you need it, and then instantly retracting back into the display when you don’t. Check it out in action in the short video clip below:

Amazing stuff, no? There’s no word on when the first consumer products with Tactus displays will hit the market, but I certainly can’t wait to get my hands on one. If you’re fortunate enough to be at CES this week, you can see the Tactus tablet up close and personal at booth #75110 on the 3rd floor of the Venetian.

Google patents smart watch with flip-up display that could reveal everyday objects’ secrets

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Google patents smartwatch

It looks like Google has considered transferring ideas from Project Glass over to your wrist by patenting a smart watch with a transparent, flip-up touchscreen. If such a device ever came off the USPTO papers, it would present notifications and other info transmitted from your smartphone at a glance, like many, many others now on the market. However, Mountain View's added a new twist when you'd flip up its bezel -- at that point, it's claimed that the watch could channel a plethora of other Google apps, like Gmail, Goggles, and Maps. Of course, you'd be able to privately view messages inside the bezel, but since the display would also be transparent, you could see through it to landmarks or object around you. According to the patent, you could then be given directions based on GPS coordinates and the buildings "seen" by the watch, while a Goggles-like implementation would be able to identify smaller items in the display. That would let the search giant throw ads or other data about the product your way, giving you the info you need to snap it up -- and likely not hurting Google's bottom line.

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Google patents smart watch with flip-up display that could reveal everyday objects' secrets originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 10:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Matias Quiet Pro claims to be the ‘world’s quietest mechanical keyboard’

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Matias Quiet Pro claims to be the 'world's quietest mechanical keyboard'

Canada's Matias Corporation has made something of a name for itself with its tactile keyboards, but those have primarily appealed to those who also enjoy (or at least accept) the sound of a mechanical keyboard in addition to its feel. The company's hoping to bring a few more into the tactile fold with its new Quiet Pro, though, which it claims is the "world's quietest mechanical keyboard." That, Matias says, comes without any sacrifices to tactile feedback, and is said to be the result of more than two years of work. As usual, the keyboard comes in both PC and Mac specific models (all-black and silver & black, respectively), each of which boasts three USB 2.0 ports and laser-etched keys with beveled keytops as opposed to the increasingly common flat variety.

Not surprisingly, you can also expect to pay a bit of a premium over your average keyboard -- each model will set you back $150, with US models available today (UK, German and Nordic versions are promised for January). Interestingly, the company says it is also planning to sell the new switches it's developed to other companies for use in their own keyboards, and even to hobbyists interested in going the DIY route. Additional details on that are promised soon.

Gallery: Matias Quiet Pro keyboard

Continue reading Matias Quiet Pro claims to be the 'world's quietest mechanical keyboard'

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Matias Quiet Pro claims to be the 'world's quietest mechanical keyboard' originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 19:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Tactile Rubik’s Cube for the Blind

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Despite the fact that there are people (and robots) out there who can solve a Rubik’s Cube in about 5 seconds, my tiny brain still needs at least 20 minutes to solve one. But imagine if you were blind (or even color blind). How could you solve this classic toy, which relies on matching up its colored faces? Well, here’s how:

rubiks cube for blind

I spotted this image over on Reddit today, but it actually originated from Brian Doom, who created this “accessible” version of the puzzle by adding tactile elements to the outside of the cube back in 2010. The colored sides have been augmented with screws, felt furniture pads, two textures of rubber dots, DYMO labels, and wooden furniture to provide tactile feedback when using the cube.

rubiks cube for blind 2

Of course, he could have just gone with DYMO labels on each side, with different letters to indicate each color – but this looks so much more awesome.