Researchers at Disney Research and Carnegie Mellon University believe touching is good-- creating Touché, a system embedding touch-based controls in objects such as doorknobs, seats and tables.
Touché uses Swept Frequency Capacitative Sensing (SFCS), a technology derived from modern smartphone touchscreens. It recognises a wide range of different gestures, with each gesture (tapping, pinching, grasping) having different "capacitative profile" to trigger different functions.
The technology appears fairly simple to implement-- it uses a single electrode connected (even via Bluetooth) to a processor, and needs no metallic surfaces to operate. It even detects gestures through water.
A proof of concept video shows a number of interesting concept designs, including a smart doorknob with different functions (such as showing messages or automatically locking up) depending on how one touches it and a sofa dimming the lights when one reclines on it for a length of time.
However our favourite concept is a system teaching children how to eat cereal, complete with cutlery detection and alarming noises.
The researchers say gesture classification accuracies range at 99%, and are already achievable with current technology. Guess SFCS technology will find use sooner, rather than later?
Go Touché