Electrotactile experience
The lowdown: The third of our demoes was also the most realistic, as it was being shown off on a Nokia N900. The team is working on ways to enable touchscreens to offer more realistic feedback. This goes way beyond simple haptics to deliver genuine tactile response. The team are influenced by the belief that the sensation of touch isn’t currently well understood so they’re trying to work out ways to make it more effective when interacting with technology. Part of the team’s research is looking at ways to try and replicate textures, potentially offering users new experiences when it comes to interacting with a touchscreen. Using the concept of electrovibration, which was first documented in the 1950s, the team have been working on the concept for about a year now but have already made tremendous progress. As part of the project, the team has been working with the electrical engineers at Nokia’s Research Center in Beijing who managed to miniaturise the required hardware to fit into a modified N900 (using a half-size battery).