Science

Senseg demonstrates new technology that creates textures on flat screens

Senseg's technology would allow you to feel textures on a tablet's screen
Senseg's technology would allow you to feel textures on a tablet's screen

What if you could feel what's on your television screen? Tech company Senseg is working on a way for you to someday be able to do just that, and recently demonstrated a prototype tablet that is already able to make that magic happen.

The tech is made possible using an electrostatic-field-based system that allows different parts of the screen to produce varying degrees of friction. So, while you're touching a flat screen, it feels like you're touching something textured instead. Your traditional screen is turned into what Senseg is calling a "Feel Screen," allowing you to feel textures, contours and edges of things that are displayed in front of you.

Feel Screens don't rely on moving parts in the screen itself, and could be integrated into devices we use today such as smartphones, tablets, and televisions. Senseg's technology is still very much in prototype-form, but could be headed our way in the next 24 months.

What sorts of devices could you see a Feel Screen working well on? What would you want to feel?

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7 comments
Todd Dunning
That\'s really cool but will be amazing when it matures into actual topographic features as the illustration is depicting.
chards
There is so much that could be done with this. One of the first things I though was blind people using touch screens.
Newsjunkie
I want to feel the keyboard when I\'m typing on a touchscreen device. Of course I would also need the touchscreen to be pressure sensitive, and not just touch sensitive.
Sambath Pech
There\'s too many application for this. I could imagine it\'d be really useful for browsing the web. When you\'re scrolling down the page, as you approach the bottom of the page, the friction increases letting the user know they\'re getting towards the end of the page.
inchiki
imagine if two users could touch each other through some kind of portal like this... that would be revolutionary
Harpal Sahota
Yep, this has huge markets to be utilsed into. Porn, clouthing, Skype, card templates, florists, artificial animals, the list goes on and on!

Welldone for those that thought out of the box, and asked themselves, \'what is the feeling of what makes touch ... before the brain knows its textured\'.

Bingo!!!
Bassam
This will be great for Samsung to deal with the current law-suite with Apple:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/245493/apple_to_samsung_dont_make_thin_or_rectangular_tablets_or_smartphones.html