Scientists Have Created A Touch Screen With Three-Dimensional Buttons
Scientists in the US are developing an OLED panel with inflatable buttons.
The idea is being developed at the American Carnegie Mellon University. It is to combine the versatility of touch typing and the tactility of a QWERTY keyboard in one device. To do this, the engineers came up with the idea of inflating the OLED panel, or rather, pumping it with liquid.
To combine all the advantages of both input methods, scientists are developing FIG – Flat Panel Haptics technology.
FIG’s “Flat Panel Haptics” technology can be used under an OLED panel to create ridges. Screen sections can be inflated and deflated with liquid. This can give a new tactile dimension to things like pop-up media controls, keyboards, and virtual gamepads that can be found by touch.
Embedded Electroosmotic Pumps (EEOPs) are arrays of liquid pumps on a thin layer embedded in a sensor device such as a smartphone or car display. When an on-screen element needs a pop-up button, liquid fills the area of the EEOP layer and the top of the OLED panel folds to take that shape.
As a result, the “button” protrudes 1.5 mm above the flat surface – this is enough to feel the difference. When the software releases it, it returns to the display plane. The research team claims that each area takes about one second to fill and they feel hard to the touch.
