There are those who still look back to the time when smartphones had physical keyboards with nostalgia. The tactile feedback is one of the factors why companies such as Blackberry were then leading the smartphone market. Users today are unwilling to trade their display for a keyboard so they make do with the clicks made by the power or the volume buttons instead. This issue is now being addressed by a technology called GelTouch, which was unveiled recently.
Researchers from Technische Universität Berlin might have developed a game-changer in GelTouch, a solution that combines touchscreen display with a physical keyboard. In a recent demonstration, the researchers showed how the technology could make a set of buttons or keys appear when needed and then vanish after use. What is also amazing is that different buttons with varying shapes can materialize on the same spot. It is not unlike a concept of morphing keyboard or buttons on demand.
"You basically can have unlimited shapes or structures or whatever you want," Viktor Miruchna, lead researcher of the team behind GelTouch, said in an MIT Technology Review report.
GelTouch technology works with a flat-touch panel embedded in a layer of gel which sits on a layer of indium tin oxide (ITO) that contains electrodes. Once the keyboard is activated, electricity heats the gel, which then expands and stiffens in predefined shapes, reported BGR. This process creates temporary buttons underneath the display. Watch it in action in the video below.
Currently, GelTouch is still being developed. Several issues are still needed to be addressed before it becomes commercially available. For instance, there is the challenge of controlling the gel's expansion when heated.
The paper published detailing the GelTouch technology can be accessed through this link.
