The folks over at Microsoft Research could very well come up with a potentially revolutionary way that touchscreens work – by allowing users to actually “feel” what they are currently interacting with on a touchscreen display. It is interesting to note that this particular invention does not need to involve any kind of complex finger contraptions, and neither do you need to outfit users with bulky gloves, but rather, the all the researchers did were to install the display on a robotic mount which in turn will move in response to where and what is being touched, thereby performing a simulation of on-screen interaction.
Since a single picture speaks a thousand words, how about checking out the video above to get a better idea on what is going on with this robot touchscreen? For instance, if one were to touch an image of a brick which is solid and heavy in the real world, the touchscreen would offer far more resistance compared to a light object such as a feather or balloon, where the latter would allow you to push the screen back easily.