Previously we have reported extensively about scientists and different companies working on flexible smartphones and tablets for the future. Now it seems like we are not going to stay limited to the flexible touch screens as researchers have created a new kind of screen that is made of elastic material and can be expanded by stretching.
The elastic screen created by MIT Media Lab’s Dhariya Dand and Rob Hemsley is called the Obake. It aims to revolutionize the touchscreens as we know them and create something that would give users a true 3D experience rather than a flat surface experience we have right now. The Obake elastic display features touch sensors and is stretchable to a certain degree. Users can make all forms of possible changes to the elastic screen as it is fully flexible as well as stretchable.
On the Obake elastic screen the ‘screen’ is on the elastic surface that users can interact with in order to pinch, pull as well as push along with other form of interactions in order to control the on-screen stuff. The Obake elastic screen features depth cameras that measure the movement of the hand making interactions with the screen in order to apply the desired changes. The depth cameras of the Obake elastic screen measure the amount of pull, pinches and pushes and translate that into changes that are made to the touch screen.
The elastic screen provides 2D as well as real 3D experience to the users as they can pull the elastic material up to create things like mountains as well as dig holes of paths in the screen to create rivers – you will get a better understanding of this after watching the video embedded below.
What makes Obake elastic display better than the 3D displays we already have is that users can create 3D materials that they can touch, feel and manipulate with.
Though the elastic touch screen technology is in early stages right now we cannot deny the possibility of owning smartphones and tablets featuring such a display.