Make Any Surface Touchscreen Interactive

Ritesh Warke

You may have heared about using your skin as Touchscreen, However this week Microsoft researchers have been succeeded in mastering this invension with Kinect technology by which any surface can be made touchscreen no matter what ever it is.

Reserchers developed a way to make devices sensitive to touch input through fabric : for not only silencing the phone but also entering text without taking device even out of your packet or bag.

PocketTouch uses a custom sensor located on the back side of a smartphone which is able to detect multitouch gestures even through heavy fleece or a jacket pocket. The first prototype is completed,Microsoft will be there with demo very soon.

Microsoft uses “orientation-defining unlock gesture” that essentially tells the device which way is up, thereby removing the problem where device can be in a different orientation inside pockets. Grid of touch sensors can detect finger strokes through cloth and hence make it possible to have a specific unlock gesture that reorientates the screen each time you use it – avoiding the need to flip your phone upside down before using the interface.

OmniTouch:

OmniTouch have ability to makes any surface touch compatible. OmniTouch consists of a pico projector and a depth camera (like Kinect) to let people interact with programs projected onto their skin or other surfaces. Users can define the size and location of their own interfaces, or can give command to system to decide the best choice of display.

The researcher calls it a “mega Kinect hack” and an extension of his previous device which could only work on skin. While the prototype device is quite large in size, soon it would be possible to reduce the equipment up to the size of matchbox.

This week both the systems are being presented at the User Interface Software and Technology symposium in Santa Barbara, California.