Arabnet Arabnet

Engineers from Disney Research, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Tokyo are developing a novel technology that would bring capacitive sensing to everyday objects. Named Touché, the technology would transform any object, a door knob for example (shown in the video below), into a touch sensitive input device much like the surface of a touch-screen smartphone.

Touché’s technology differs from conventional capacitive touch sensing, which only allows for a binary reading where the user is either touching or not, in that it is able to read complex configurations: touching using 1 finger, 2, 3, a whole palm, pinching, grasping, etc.

Touché only requires a single electrode to function, which means that any electricity conducting surface, like furniture, human skin, and liquids, can be turned into touch sensing devices.

What are the applications? Check out the video below for few of the endless possibilities:

What’s the most radical application that comes to your mind? Let us know in the comments section.