Australian researchers envision liquid keyboard for touchscreens

A new revolution in the history of computers began when everything turned to the touchscreens. People were in awe for this new technology and were soon dreaming of the days with holographic projections and 3-D touchscreens. Those days are not far behind. The latest arrival (not patented yet) are the liquid keyboards, which are primarily being prepared for the "touch" machines like the iPads. Researchers in Australia say they have invented a virtual keyboard which senses the user's fingertips and forms a QWERTY around these four fingers. They say that this will make typing faster on touchpads. The QWERTY will follow the fingers anywhere on the keypad. You could also type with two hands, unlike in present touchpads.

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Computer systems researcher Christian Sax and colleague Hannes Lau of the University of Technology, Sydney have created the software based on pressure sensitivity. But since the present touchpads cannot understand this, they have adapted the software to calculate pressure from hand size and position and area of the fingers.

The researchers are hoping to put up the software into the market for iPads, or set it up as an Apple software for the touch products. They hope this will put an end to the tedious single-handed typing on touchscreens, and will also prove to be healthy for the hands. They are planning to extend the same for Android machines and other similar touchpads. The low cost of production might help it to gain ground and popularity with gizmo freaks in the market.

Via: Physorg