A new, inexpensive sensor developed at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) (UBC) could potentially help produce advanced devices such as foldable touch screen tablets.
The sensor uses a conductive gel sandwiched between layers of silicone that can detect different types of touch—including swiping and tapping—even when it is stretched, folded, or bent. This feature makes it suited for foldable devices of the future, the researchers explain.
“There are sensors that can detect pressure and some that can detect a hovering finger,” says researcher Mirza Saquib Sarwar, a UBC doctoral student in electrical and computer engineering. “There are also sensors that are foldable, transparent, and stretchable. Our contribution is a device that combines all those functions in one compact package.”
The prototype measures 50 by 50 mm. However, the researchers say it could be easily scaled up, since it uses inexpensive, widely available materials like the gel and silicone.
“It’s entirely possible to make a room-sized version of this sensor for just dollars per square meter, and then put sensors on the wall, on the floor, or over the surface of the body—almost anything that requires a transparent, stretchable touch screen,” Sarwar says. “And because it’s cheap to manufacture, it could be embedded cost-effectively in disposable wearables like health monitors.”
The sensor could also be integrated in robotic “skins” to make human-robot interactions safer, adds John Madden, Sarwar’s supervisor and a UBC professor. The research was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada).
Source: UBC, news.ubc.ca.