Pet Pluto? Disney’s Latest Creation Brings Feeling To the Touchscreen
We’ve seen some pretty amazing things on video, like a device that charges phones with fire, and a rocket than can hover, and land precisely where it took off, but we haven’t seen many cooler innovations than Disney Labs’s latest creation.
In a video unveiling this week, engineers at Disney Labs unveiled a method for bringing feel to touchscreens. This isn’t just static touch either, like being able to feel the keys on a keyboard as you type on the screen of a tablet, like the iPad. This is full-blown feeling.
In one example, the engineers had the tablet’s camera videoing what was in front of it, and in realtime, users were able to feel a simulation of what was in front of them. This technology could do amazing things for accessibility, allowing the blind to essentially see, and be more independent.
Beyond that, this could allow for more immersive games (note to any disney engineers reading this: How about a “Pet pluto” game? That would be awesome). The feeling technology could also be a fabulous educational enhancement, allowing students to experience things that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to.
Taste can’t be far off. Maybe this reporter wasn’t so stupid after all.
See/Feel For Yourself
How it Works:
The screen basically sends teeny tiny low-voltage electric shocks into your fingers as you touch the screen, simulating the friction and resistance that you would feel when touching the real object. This targeted electrocution (if I may so call it that) is what gives you the feeling of touching the object. The shocks themselves are determined by a proprietary algorithm which can supposedly convert 3D surfaces into feelings instantaneously. For more on the technical details, watch the video, and read the paper they published on it.
