FTIR technology - The future user interface?

NYU.edu ^ | January 2006 | Jeff Han

[HAL9000]

Brief excerpt - go to the source for amazing video -

While touch sensing is commonplace for single points of contact, multi-touch sensing enables a user to interact with a system with more than one finger at a time, as in chording and bi-manual operations. Such sensing devices are inherently also able to accommodate multiple users simultaneously, which is especially useful for larger interaction scenarios such as interactive walls and tabletops.

Since refining the FTIR (frustrated total internal reflection) sensing technique, we've been experimenting with a wide variety of application scenarios and interaction modalities that utilize multi-touch input information. These go far beyond the "poking" actions you get with a typical touchscreen, or the gross gesturing found in video-based interactive interfaces. It is a rich area for research, and we are extremely excited by its potential for advances in efficiency, usability, and intuitiveness. It's also just so much fun!

~snip~

[HAL9000]

According to the rumors, we may see one or two major announcements of FTIR devices later today.

[HAL9000]

Check this out.

[Redcloak]

I wonder how they get around finger prints left on the sensing screen. FTIR works because your finger acts as an index matching medium for the light. A thin film of finger oils left on the screen can also act as an index matching medium. (I have similar problems to deal with making fiber optic sensors.)

[KittyKares]

Fantastic!

[martin_fierro]

Only Tom Cruise could manage to make a technology this cool look ridiculous.