糖心视频

(糖心视频Org.com) -- Swiss researchers have invented a new generation of tactile surfaces with relief effects 鈥� users can feel actual raised keys under their fingers. This technology could have many applications, particularly in improving access to electronic media for the visually impaired.

Finally a true tactile surface! EPFL researchers have developed a way to control the texture of a screen so that the 鈥渇eeling鈥� of specific areas can be modified underneath a user鈥檚 fingertips. This technology, developed by EPFL鈥檚 Integrated Actuators Laboratory (LAI) in Neuch芒tel, is being designed for smartphones, tablets, computers, and vending machines.

鈥淲e鈥檙e adding the sense of touch to tactile surfaces,鈥� says Christophe Winter, a PhD student in the LAI who is writing his thesis on the subject. 鈥淭he term 鈥榯ouch screen鈥� that鈥檚 used to describe current technology is really a misnomer, because they only provide visual and auditory feedback.鈥�

By adding another layer of information to devices, this invention will improve their usability and thus improve the user experience. For example, it could be used to enrich online texts, drawing the reader鈥檚 attention to certain elements on the page, or to make video games even more entertaining, by adding an additional sensory dimension. And for the visually impaired, it could truly open up access to smartphones and other electronic devices.

A layer of air

To obtain this relief effect, the scientists used a material that vibrates when a voltage is applied to it. These materials are described as 鈥減iezoelectric.鈥� The material expands and then returns to its original shape very rapidly, all at the nanometer scale. 鈥淭his movement generates micro-vibrations, whose intensity can be controlled mechanically,鈥� explains LAI director Yves Perriard. These vibrations 鈥� whose amplitude is only about a micron, or one-hundredth of the thickness of a human hair 鈥� are themselves imperceptible to us. But they create a very thin layer of air between the surface and a user鈥檚 finger, giving him or her the feeling that there鈥檚 something raised underneath it.