Spray a touch-pad onto any surface (New Scientist)

[Saviolo]

From New Scientist: Full article here.

It’s a touchpad in a spray can. Spray the conductive paint on almost any surface and, with the aid of just a few simple electronics, you can make everything from walls to steering wheels interactive.

“We can do this with a whole bunch of things,” says Chris Harrison at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Most touch-sensitive surfaces we encounter are built into flat and rigid structures like the screen on a smartphone, says Sriram Subramanian at the University of Sussex in the UK, who wasn’t involved in the work. He is excited by the idea of interacting with large or awkwardly shaped objects by touch.

Armed with a can of conductive spray paint, Harrison says it is possible to give almost any surface a touch-sensitive upgrade. For example, by covering a wall with the paint and attaching copper electrodes to a computer, Harrison’s team turned the entire surface into a touch-sensitive light switch. Tapping the wall turned on a light while sliding a finger along the wall dimmed or brightened the bulb.

It's a fascinating development, though the article does indicate that the young technology does have some problems that they're working on. The video has some amazing moments:

I can see uses for teaching and learning, as well as making huge control surfaces in houses so that they are more easily accessible/controllable for people with disabilities, palsies, or Parkinson's. Some of the things they show in the video, like registering two hands on a steering wheel, may be able to be connected to safety features in cars. I can imagine all sorts of useful things this could do.

[underpants]

1. Spray-on touch pad

Very cool. Thanks for posting.