liquid injection to the OLED panel; A creative solution to provide more natural feedback on touch screens
Electroosmotic pumps embedded in Flat Panel Haptics technology, known as EEOP, are a set of fluid pumps on a thin excitable layer that are placed in devices equipped with touch screens such as smartphones, car displays, etc. When a button is displayed on the user interface, part of the EEOP layer is filled with liquid, and the flat surface of the 1.5mm display is exposed. By hiding the mentioned button in the user interface, the liquid will be removed from the EEOP layer and its surface will be smooth again. The research team says that it takes about one second to fill each area of the screen with this solution.
If the general concept of Flat Panel Taptics sounds familiar to you, it’s not too surprising because its basic design reminds us of the Tactus keyboard. The prototype of the FIG technology can create different shapes and dimensions on the display surface. The research team says the thinness of Flat Panel Taptics sets it apart from other similar technologies. To provide a better view of how their technology works, the FIG team has shared a video in which they state that the main advantage of the new solution is its compactness and thinness. The thickness of the screen of this research team is less than 5 mm and it weighs very little.
Researchers say that FIG Flat Panel Taptic technology is the tactile equivalent of how pixels work on screens. EEOPs in this solution, like the pixels of LCD screens that adjust the background light, use the fluid tank to inject liquid in some areas of the screen.
The user interface buttons of devices equipped with a touch screen have different shapes and sizes, which makes them less compatible with FIG technology. However, if this technology evolves, a very important change will be made in the way users interact with touch screens and it will provide a more enjoyable experience than working with touch panels.
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