Use Any Surface As Interface: Sensitive Object

Imagine any flat rigid surface becoming the potential interface to any computer software, home appliance or live communication system you have access to.

That is what a French start up company has already started delivering with a new technology appropriately called Sensitive Object, .

"The Sensitive Object solutions enable extended interactivity with almost all objects of our everyday life environment, by a simple finger-touch contact! Indeed this new process makes it possible to develop interactivity with any type of object whatever the material or the form. The great flexibility of the solutions (only one sensor is needed) allows a wide range of applications in particular in house automation, interactive commercial windows shops, animation of public places, education, leisure and the artistic field."

"In essence, this new process makes it possible to develop interactivity with any type of object whatever the material or the form. The great flexibility of the solutions (only one sensor is needed) allows a wide range of applications in particular in house automation, interactive commercial windows shops, animation of public places, education, leisure and the artistic field."
Source: Technocrat.net

 

 

The new technology utilizes audio sensors to monitor tapping on any surface and simplifies greatly the amount and complexity of technology required to create such an interface.

The technology was developed from Time-Reversed Lamb Waves.

ReverSys technology is based on Time-Reversed Lamb Waves physical process developed by the Laboratory of Acoustics of ESPCI. The technology is very similar to technology utilized for voice recognition applications and it allows to configure the system to identify specific coordinates on any surface representing "hot points" and to assign to them any action desired.

Possible applications for this technology are listed here.

Watch an enlightening video of how this system can be used to make a blackboard become a multimedia interface. (1.7 MB)

On a similar wavelength let me also point your attention to a light-projected interface I had seen a few months ago and which stroke my attention for its effectiveness and ease of use. This highly innovative visual interface system, can be light-projected on any flat surface and it has been designed specifically for audio / dj applications, allowing live mixing and sound effects creation without touching any hardware apparatus.

Screenshots of the audiopad application utilizing a light-projected interface.

Video of the audiopad at work. (.mov 20 MB)