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  • Touchscreen thimbles: Enabling intuitive interaction

Briscoe, Gerard and Blom, Jeroen, 2016, Conference or Workshop, Touchscreen thimbles: Enabling intuitive interaction at SPWID 2016, The Second International Conference on Smart Portable, Wearable, Implantable and Disability-oriented Devices and Systems, Valencia, Spain, 22-26 May 2016.

Abstract or Description:

We are interested in the challenge that the ever- increasing use of capacitive touchscreens represent. This is because they rely on the electrical properties of the human skin, which changes over time, often becoming less conductive with age. So, we consider the potentially increasing problem this would represent, with a layered model of skin interactions, as a frame from which to conceptualise different classes of approaches and better understand the design requirements. Conscious of the need to retain a sense of touch, rather than a stylus with a conductive tip or gloves with conductive finger tips, we then propose suitable thimbles for touchscreens. We conceptualised a touchscreen thimble to be worn on the body that would maintain a sense of touch. So it would be a pros-palliare, rather than a prosthesis. Developing a proof of concept prototype consisting of a rigid base combined with a conductive fabric for the finger tip, to address the limitations we observed with existing approaches. We conclude by considering the wider potential of our idea in designing a preferable future for touchscreen use. Including, the potential for multiple touchscreen thimbles to be worn simultaneously to support multi-touch gestures, and for them to be worn as an enhancement for able-bodied users.

Official URL: http://www.thinkmind.org/index.php?view=instance&i...
Subjects: Creative Arts and Design > W900 Others in Creative Arts and Design
School or Centre: Research Centres > Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design
Date Deposited: 02 Dec 2020 19:57
Last Modified: 19 Mar 2021 13:21
URI: https://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/id/eprint/4623
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