Touchscreen displays are all the rage these days, don’t you think so? Well, what is the next logical step of progress then? It seems as though a bunch of boffins over at the Media Computing Group at Aachen University discovered a method to place a series of electromagnets underneath a display so that haptic feedback can be delivered to touchscreens. Known as the FingerFlux, a bed of extremely small electromagnets are located right under the panel display, where you will need to wear a particular ‘thimble’ that has an attached permanent magnet. Whenever you ‘disturb’ the bed of electromagnets slightly, you will be on the receiving end of some sensation – or at least, your fingertip will.The FingerFlux has the potential of delivering haptic feedback just like how a standard keyboard would, although it will also be able to see action to model constraints so that users will not move outside the controls they operate, while tutorials might utilize this to help guide the user to the desired button. I wonder what would happen if this was implemented in current devices – will the battery life drop by a significant margin?
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