Displax Unveils Multi-touch Skin
By Alexis • Feb 9th, 2010 • Category: Industry News- Photo: Displax
The Portuguese company Displax is the next organisation surfing the crest of the multi-touch wave by introducing its thinner-than-paper polemic multi-touch skin. By skin, they mean it can be skinned over any surface, transforming that area into a multi-touch device reactive to both pressure and moving air (which means even blowing on it will have an effect).
The inner workings
This amazing technology is powered by several arrays of nanowires that run beneath the film and detect pressure from fingers and air, as well as the directionality of the latter. This technological architecture has given the Displax multi-touch the versatility to be placed on curved surfaces and transparent and reflective surfaces alike.
Why?
It is unclear right now what this technology will be used for outside of its usual environments and where (and how) it will be implemented. In it’s current incarnation, it does not support any multi-touch functionality, but it can detect 16 fingers on a 50”. All the while, the real retail-ready Display X devices will be set for a June launch.
Towards Technological Evolution
- Photo: Displax
This device will require Displax to prove the viability of the platform to software developers, and then for software development to create the right type of applications for it. Displax’s current strategy is to sell the technology, capable of going from seven inches to a full three metres, to LCD manufacturers. That is their ideal short-term strategy for profitability and viability. The long-term strategy, insofar as it is more ambitious, could mean a lot for the advancement of touch technology moving forward. Here, we’re talking touch technology to control all the electronics in your home - a giant, interactive remote control, if you will. Touch technology for accessing medical records for patients in hospital, as well as displaying where the problem lies in an interactive manner that allows one to zoom, rotate, pan and so forth. Touch technology that could very well change the world.
Tags for this article: lcd
