Here's some good news in the field of touch technology, namely tactile feedback. Toshiba has come up with a working prototype of a touch panel that can give the user feedback so precise that one can actually feel the texture of the displayed material.

Making use of E-Sense technology from Senseg, the panel provides a tactile sensation, without a mechanical vibration, but actually by controlling the electric charge on a film affixed to the touch panel. What is even better about this architecture is that the film can even be affixed to curved surfaces. Just like the guy in the video below tells it, the film could be used on both sides of a mobile phone, enabling a sensation when holding the phone, maybe make it feel like jelly or a soft tissue.

Exhibited at Embedded Systems Expo, the technology is called New Sensation UI Solution. It might as well revolutionize and change everything we have ever known about touch technology, aiding the blind or visually impaired have better feedback. Now that I think about it, shopping on the Internet could have a new meaning, as users should be able to feel the texture of the clothing they want to buy, but that will probably take some years. That was just my imagination about what could (not can) be done with such a technology.

Then again, as the fellow in the video explains, the film strip can already be controlled to such detail as to feel the difference between metal and wood, if the metal strips and brush aren't that detailed. Now, considering the video, I have two things to say. How come Toshiba used an iPhone for the prototype touchpanel? Is the company actually batting eyelashes to Apple?




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