Researchers at the University of
California, San Diego report a breakthrough in technology that could pave the
way for digital systems to record, store, edit and replay information in a
dimension that goes beyond what we can see or hear touch. Touch was largely
bypassed by the digital revolution, because it seemed too difficult to
replicate what analog haptic devices can produce.
In addition to uses in health and
medicine, the communication of touch signals could have far-reaching
implications for education, social networking, e-commerce, robotics, gaming,
and military applications, among others. The sensors and sensor arrays reported
in the research are also fully transparent which makes it particularly interesting
for touch-screen applications in mobile devices.
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