Revolutionary Tactile Touchscreen in Prototype Phase

Tactus Technology, a US based start-up company, have revealed a prototype of their new touchscreen that features automatically rising and falling buttons.

Demonstrated at the recent SID 2012 event, the prototype was shown on an Android tablet device. The patented tactile layer features a next-generation haptic user interface with real physical buttons that rise out of the surface and then recede back as needed.

Such a system has long been sought after, and Tactus claim that their prototype is the first of its kind to be demonstrated. The display screen is completely flat and makes use of microfluidic technology to create physical buttons so that there’s no need to increase the size of a device to accommodate the user interface.

People will be able to interact with the buttons in the same way they would with keys on a keyboard, pushing them down to type or pressing to call a command as required, with the buttons disappearing entirely whilst not in use.

The technology is being targeted towards multiple platforms that currently make use of touch screen technology, including phones, tablets, eBook readers, medical devices, PNDs, industrial controls, gaming devices, automotive displays and a wide range of other devices.

It will be interesting to see, given time, if this becomes the standard in user interfaces.

• Tagged in:
• Design
• Mobile
• UI (User Interface)