Senseg.com is a haptic interface company based in Helsinki, Finland. I met with the CEO, Ville Makinen, who showed us two simple implementations of the system.
Instead of using vibrating motors, the devices are completely motionless. Instead, the Senseg system stimulates your fingers or hand with an electrical field to simulate the feeling of friction or texture. The only way I can describe it as being a cross between rubbing soft sandpaper and getting a static electric shock.
One obvious implementation would be for something like the iPhone. Because it uses no motors you can’t hear it and it doesn’t run down the battery. A small module – about as big as two sugar cubes – controls the sensation by connecting to a thin film that can be placed on any device. The film can even go around curves. The video you see here shows two demo products. One is a UI test with three distinct systems – a slider, a notched slider, and a rotating arrow. When you move your finger on each UI element you feel a different thing.
Makinen is working on some larger projects right now for museums and corporate clients but expects to have some working devices in production in a year. This could definitely change the way we interact with touchscreens.
The proprietary Senseg E-Sense surface and driving electronics create a small pressure between finger tissue and Senseg E-Sense surface, using a field effect. Modulation of the pressure creates easily controllable, pleasant vibration-like touch sensations.
The energies involved are very low: peak power consumption is 0.05 to 0.5 watts. Senseg E-Sense is protected by nearly twenty patent applications internationally.
Helsinki is the capital of Finland. Yay.
I was about to say, Helsinki is in Finland, not Sweden. Screw the Swedes hahah!
fuck you ashole..
Coming soon to a teledildonics device probably. Not that it’s the only practical application of the technology mind you, just the most lucrative.
The iPhone keyboard.
Also, this can make devices like the iPhone more friendly with respect to Universal Access.
you could also make a mobile phone with a touchscreen more useful to blind users who use haptics instead of eye sight. but where’s the business model in that?!
Sounds like a better implementation of what RIM tried to do with the Storm.
Lol Sweden. Man. Are you high?
Almost
This is awesome for gaming. If you get shot or get your car crashed you get a high jolt of electricity.
hey did you not notice it when you landed? what’s your next stop Madrid, Switzerland?
btw this is an amazing piece of BCI
It cannot be that bad .. Sweden/Finland … must be a typo
I was once asked if India is same as Afghanistan
I knew someone that had a heppa air filtering system. It didn’t seem to really do anything. It just sat there like one of the 2001 monoliths. http://iamned.com/blog/ stock market will keep surging
This is totally useless (to me)!
I sliced my right index finger to the bone a couple of years ago, I severed a nerve and have no feeling in my finger.
So for those of us with no feeling in our right index fingers – this is a total waste of time.
Fail.
Such a huge sample size to call fail.
You could use a different finger, or your nose.
Was I the only one that was reminded of the Star Trek control consoles when they showed the slider?
impressive