Disney Researchers Study Smart Touch Technology

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f you use a touchscreen device, you're familiar with touch-technology. The way that touch-technology works is when a small electric voltage is applied to the screen, the voltage changes and thus the device responds. Now, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Disney Research in Pittsburgh have expanded on this technology, making a touch system that monitors multiple kinds of touches.

By monitoring different kinds of touch, the system, called Touché, is able to tell if someone is close to an object. For example, the system processes frequencies and say, a table, can tell if someone is sitting near it.

Check out this video that explains more about the technology. Imagine the possibilities, though: a doorknob that unlocked when a specific hand touched it, a pool that could tell if a child couldn't swim...