Tactile Touchscreens

As flat touchscreens replace mechanical buttons on nearly every device we operate, it’s becoming increasingly important to be able to sense the proper location of a switch without needing to see it. For example, when you’re driving in the car and want to turn up the heat, you don’t want to take your eyes off the road to find the correct icon. Worse yet, you don’t want to have to hit it multiple times in order to get it to turn on. Most devices have incorporated sounds or vibrations to let you know when a key has been selected, but that doesn’t help when you’re searching for it.

A new haptic feedback system, called neoSense, aims to change that by creating the sensation of different surfaces and textures using vibrations based on finger position. “Buttons” can be programmed to have a variety of surface properties – flat, grooved, smooth or different degrees of roughness. Simply slide your finger across the screen to feel them, and press firmly to activate. Different functions can also be based on touch pressure. For example, you can control the speed at which you scroll through menus, lists, or music tracks by varying the pressure.

No word yet on when the new technology will become available.