Researchers at IIT Madras have created a brand-new touchscreen display technology that allows users to feel the textures of images as their fingers move across the touch surface. Current touchscreens can only detect where your finger touches the screen.
It is the next generation of touch display technology and is known as ‘iTad,’ which stands for interactive touch active display. Software allows the researchers to produce a variety of textures, including sharp edges, switches, and rich textures that range from smooth to gritty. On smooth physical surfaces, interaction takes on a new degree of life.
In iTad, there are no moving parts. Instead, a built-in multitouch sensor tracks finger movement, and software regulates surface friction.
The programme modifies friction locally as fingers move across a smooth flat by manipulating electric fields via a phenomena known as ‘electroadhesion.’
Professor M. Manivannan, CoE on Virtual Reality and Haptics, Department of Applied Mechanics, IIT Madras, served as the study’s principal investigator. In order to advance the technology, Touchlab researchers have been collaborating with Merkel Haptics, a start-up housed at the IIT Madras Research Park.
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