Newcastle, UK-based Zytronic [1], a key player in advanced, rugged Projected Capacitive Technology touch sensors today (Monday, June 13, 2016) announced the addition of force sensing to its touch sensors, now allowing ATMs, kiosks, game terminals and interactive video walls to differentiate between a soft and hard touch.
Ian Crosby, sales and marketing director of Zytronic, says that Force or pressure sensing is a whole new way of interacting with a touch screen, which Zytronic is making available to the retail, commercial and industrial markets. It adds a new dimension to the touch experience, giving application developers a “fantastic opportunity to innovate.” It is particularly powerful when used in combination with Zytronic multi touch technology, exceeding what is possible on all but the most advanced tablets and smartphones today.
Force or pressure sensing is becoming available on smart phones and tablets. Zytronic is bringing it to financial, retail, gaming, industrial and other commercial touch screen applications.
Zytronic¹s approach is based on a measurement of the surface area of an applied touch, which changes the measured capacitive signal levels at the relative touch location on the sensor. This eliminates the need for a piezo-electric or other layers on the glass to measure applied force or pressure.
Crosby says, “In a way finder or web browsing application, a soft touch can open a preview window ¬ then pressing harder fully opens the window. On a kiosk, a soft touch can bring up a menu of options and increasing the applied force makes a selection. There is a great opportunity to make kiosks and ATMs more accessible to partially sighted users. An initial soft touch can trigger an audio confirmation of the selection, then increasing the force activates the choice.
“Force sensing can open new applications, too. Developers can create drawing and writing applications that respond to applied force without an active stylus. There is huge potential for innovative music applications, as well as for gaming and other smart user interfaces.”
The Zytronic force sensing feature is offered in a custom firmware release for its ZXY150, ZXY200 and ZXY300 controllers. The feature doesn¹t entail any hardware modification, so existing customers could retrofit force sensing by refreshing the firmware and adapting their application to respond appropriately. Zytronic is providing customers using the feature with a new version of the ZyConfig software that supports the feature, together with an output protocol note on how an app developer can access the force sensing data from a Zytronic controller and use it in their app development.
Zytronic Displays Ltd internationally award-winning touch sensors are used globally in ATMs, digital signage, self-service kiosks and gaming machines as well as by industrial and medical OEMs. The company¹s success rests on its patented and highly durable touch sensing technologies, which can be provided in custom designs of 85″ and beyond. In addition to its manufacturing and R&D centre in Newcastle, England, Zytronic has sales offices in Taipei, Tokyo and Atlanta and a worldwide network of representatives and distributors.