An Ingenious Low Cost Way to Easily Make Almost Any Solid or Semi-Solid Object Touch Enabled

Scientists Yang Zhang, Gierad Laput and Chris Harrison, who work in the Human Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University have created “Electrick” a truly ingenious, yet low cost and simple process that makes just about any solid or semi-solid object touch-enabled for input and interaction with electronic devices. Using a combination of electric field tomography, conductive paint and circuit stickers, an item of any texture can immediately present upon a screen.

We introduce Electrick, a low-cost and versatile sensing technique that enables touch input on a wide variety of objects and surfaces, whether small or large, flat or irregular. This is achieved by using electric field tomography in concert with an electrically conductive material, which can be easily and cheaply added to objects and surfaces through a variety of fabrication methods such as painting, 3D printing, injection molding etc.

via Gizmodo