Tanvas has finally revealed its first Haptic feedback system where the user can actually feel the texture they touch. The launch of the such a device took place in Las Vegas at the world’s biggest technology event, 2017 CES.
You might be familiar with ordinary haptic feedback. Phones use it to help make typing on a touchscreen feel more tangible. When you touch flat screen, the key you pressed vibrates the slightly to give the impression that you’re pressing a physical button. After extensive research at the Northwestern University, TanvasTouch tech refines that same idea so that if you scroll your finger across your iPad, you can tell the difference between corduroy and silk.
To achieve the effect of tactility, it employs what Tanvas calls ‘real-time control of the electrical forces between your fingertip and the touch surfaces.’ That is a lot of jargon, but put simply, the TanvasTouch — a layer between a device’s touchscreen and your fingers — acts like an electromagnet for the skin, physically pulling at the tips of your fingers as they move across the screen. This result is a palpable, dynamic ‘sense’ of touch that vibration-based feedback like Apple’s 3D Touch doesn’t come close to replicating.
Getting partners on board, especially from a hardware stance, is now going to be Tanvas’ biggest hurdle. But it is cool to know such a technology exists should tablet and smartphone makers want to go beyond whatever it is Apple is doing with 3D Touch.