Interactive Surfaces with Interfaces Sprayed On

World of Sprayable User Interfaces

Source:  MIT

MIT's Sensor Inks for Your Interactive Life

Researchers at MIT, along with scientists 

from the UK, have developed a brand new

technology that they're calling a sprayable

user interface.  These are sprayable 

sensors with conductive ink that, for example,

would enable you to touch the arm of your

chair to change the channel on television. 

This unique user interface can work on

just about any surface, including wet, 

outdoor surfaces, rough and curved

surfaces.

Vision of a Digital User Interface Future

The researchers say their new technology

forwards the vision of blending digital

user interfaces with the physical 

environment, including large-scale

interactive surfaces.  This technology

could be part of smart buildings in the

future.  Specifically, stenciled, airbrushed

designs on surfaces that respond to touch.

Remarkable Technology

The technology is multilayered.  There's 

a top design layer, an underlying layer of

conductive copper ink that recognizes touch.

And there's a microcontroller that connects

to the ink and responds to it.  With the unique

conductive ink, the researchers are able to

connect any stencil design to gadgets.  So,

for instance, to turn music on in your kitchen,

you would just touch the 

note symbol on your smart wall.

Next Steps

The researchers at MIT's CSAIL, University

of Bath and University of Bristol in the UK

are now focused on further developing, scaling 

up and commercializing this new technology.

They've successfully demonstrated the 

system for interactive, smart home applications

on walls and sofas, interactive smart cities 

and interactive smart architecture in public

office spaces.