ZeroTouch, the inexpensive technology that turns regular displaysinto touchscreens, can be fitted to larger screens, is moreresponsive and is almost ready for commercialization, according toresearchers working on it. The project debuted at the Computer Human Interaction conference in 2011 and this year has been outfitted to track up tosixty fingers. The sensing area expanded from 27 inches to 55inches. It's also more responsive, tracking at about 120 hertzversus last year's 60. See ZeroTouch upgrades in a video on YouTube . "Our system scales with cost linearly, while the capacitive sensingin the iPhone and iPad scales with a square of linear area," saidAndruid Kerne, an associate professor at the Interface Ecology Lab at Texas A&M University . Microsoft Surface may be the most popular name associated withtabletop computing, but because of size and price there hasn't beenmass adoption. ZeroTouch's footprint is small and one of itsbiggest benefits is affordability. "If you were to take a traditional 55-inch LCD television it mightcost you $1,500," said research assistant Jon Moeller. "When youput a ZeroTouch sensor on there you might expect to pay $2,100 or$2,200 for that." ZeroTouch sells developer kits that range in price from US$2,000 to$10,000. The researchers showed a number of applications for ZeroTouch, likea multiplayer game where traditional Mac monitors were fitted withsensors. In another demonstration the system used a MicrosoftKinect camera to differentiate the hands and fingers of varioususers. The set-up is designed for large scale use where multiplepeople might be categorizing content or completing a similar task. The 55-inch system uses an array of 64 infrared lights and 524receivers to create an invisible mesh of light beams. When thebeams are broken, the system interprets it as a point of contact. Kerne said the team of researchers is reaching out to companies,like Apple, to let them know that this might be a cost-effectiveroute to enable the mass adoption of large touchscreens. Nick Barber covers general technology news in both text and videofor IDG News Service. E-mail him at Nick_Barber@idg.com and follow him on Twitter at @nickjb . We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Led Diode Resistor , China Dot Matrix Led Displays for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits DIP LED Lighting Source.
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