Disney's Capacitive Fingerprinting
When most of us think about Disney we think children’s movies and amusement parks but not necessarily ‘technology innovation.' Actually Disney Research’s motto states, ‘the science behind the magic,’ which is appropriate considering they have some new technology being developed that brings that motto to light with Capacitive Fingerprinting and Printed Optics. Today’s touch screens are capable of tracking multiple contact points, but they don’t have the ability to identify exactly who is touching the screen. Disney hopes to rectify this problem and create a muti-touch display that’s able to identify multiple users with the help of the innate electrical properties of humans, as well as their attire, which Disney calls Capacitive Fingerprinting. The technology is based off of Swept Frequency Capacitive Sensing that was developed with Disney’s Touche smart interaction which is capable of sensing complex hand and body configurations of a touch-event (making use of a wide range of frequencies rather than only one). Capacitive Fingerprinting capitalizes on SFCS and is able to identify multiple users based off of their electrical impedance, which differs from person to person. These electrical frequencies are also based on environment as well as clothing, which contributes to every individuals unique impedance allowing the technology to create a sort of electrical fingerprint of the user/s doing the touching. Disney suggests that Capacitive Fingerprinting could be adapted for use with interactive design or used for new security measures, but chances are we will see it used for collaborative interaction for gaming. This brings to light the other technology Disney is currently developing known as Printed Optics.
Disney's Printed Optics
Disney envisions a day when 3D printers will become mainstream and people will be able to print objects on-the-fly. It’s with that notion that Disney envisions optical devices with interaction properties embedded into the printed objects. In a recently released paper entitled ‘Printed Optics: 3D Printing of Embedded Optical Elements for Interactive Devices,' researchers from Disney Research and Carnegie Melon University describe how current 3D printing technology is capable of producing high resolution transparent plastics (photopolymer materials) that hold the same optical properties as Plexiglas. Unlike current manufacturing techniques where the devices need to be assembled together, the Disney/Melon approach embeds the electronics (such as unique displays, optical sensors and other components) directly into the body of an interactive device. The researchers used this new printing technique to create ‘light pipes’ that channel photons much in same way as fiber optics but are rendered and printed digitally rather than manufactured. These light pipes are LED illuminated and can be adapted for use in just about any interactive design, such as mobile projector displays (such as animated eyes on printed characters), mobile touch sensing (such as enabling gestural control for mobile devices using light pipes) and tangible displays. The conduits pipe information to game objects (such as chess pieces that show location to help curb cheating). As to when these technologies will become commercially available is yet unknown. Considering that they are still developing both Capacitive Fingerprinting as well as Printed Optics, it could be some time before they become available. However, the researchers state that they hope to implement their Printed Optics fabrication technique in the next generation of optically optimized 3D printers.
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