Tomorrow is Today

Disney Researchers Can Turn Almost Any Object Into Multi-Touch Gesture-Recognizing Interface:

The important thing to understand is that capacitive touch technology can be used with almost any object or surface.

…Touché accurately and quickly detects gestures on objects as disparate as a doorknob, table, and water in a fish tank. In one very exciting example, the video postulates a future where you interact with your smartphone (or other wearable/implanted computer) by performing touch gestures on your own body. Grasp your own hands to stop the music, tap on your palm with two fingers to go forward a track, ball one hand to pop up the local weather on your Google Glasses HUD… and so on.

The possible uses of Touché are staggering. Imagine a bathtub that detects when your head hits the water, or likewise, a swimming pool that detects a young child who can’t swim.

With Touché, you could create a doorknob that only opens if you grasp it in a special way — or a bookcase that only swings back to reveal your secret laboratory if you grab the right book with exactly the right grip.

Imagine a mouse that a) knows who is currently using the computer, and b) responds to different grips. Maybe a five-finger “claw” could lower the DPI (sniping mode), while palming the mouse might enable “relaxed” mode with different button assignments.

(via Disney Touché turns everyday objects into multi-touch, gesture-recognizing interfaces | ExtremeTech)