World's Thinnest Touch Sensitive Surface Developed By CSR Scientists

Scientists at a company called Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR) have developed a very interesting touch sensitive surface the claims to be the world's thinnest. The team the scientists develop a flexible computer keyboard that is as thin as paper and who claim to be capable of transforming any area into a touch sensitive surface. CSR hails the development as the world's thinnest wireless touch surface at only 0.5 mm thick.

The wireless touch surface connects to devices using low-power Bluetooth technology. Only the keyboard touch surface itself is that thin. As you can clearly see in the images in the gallery, the section of the surface housing much of the hardware is considerably thicker. The scientists connected the wireless touch surface to both iOS 7 and Windows 8 devices using CSR's own CSR1010 chip optimized for Bluetooth Smart.

The Bluetooth Smart chip was chosen because it promises extended battery life and has a much smaller form factor than normal Bluetooth hardware. The hardware is able to provide touch latency of under 12 ms providing users with seamless instant visual feedback. The scientists have created the touch interface to perform basic text input and it supports touch and gesture control as well.

That means in addition to typing, the surface can also be used for pinch to zoom gestures or other more complicated gestures. The test surface is also able to register multiple touch points with that capability owed to the Atmel touch silicon technology. The incredibly thin keyboard surface was created using reel to reel printing from Conductive Inkjet Technology. That printing technology allows a wide range of shapes and sizes to be printed and could allow a full-size keyboard to be applied to tablet covers or even to a particular area of a desktop surface. Customers will be shown the device for the first time during IFA this week.

SOURCE: Gizmag