SenseSurface sticks knobs onto screens, turns virtual controls physical

Imagine if you could attach a physical knob, slider, or switch to any application which called for some tactile interaction (say a music app like Live or Logic). That concept is exactly what led Lyndsay Williams to create the SenseSurface -- a modular system that allows you to literally stick a controller onto a display when you need it. The devices use an X/Y matrix on the backside of a typical laptop display coupled with custom designed movement sensors. Lyndsay claims that the apparatus is multitouch and low friction, leaves no marks, is programmable, scaleable, and limited only by the size of the screen. The cost? Less than $100 in production. Take a look at a prototype of the system on video after the break, and hit the read link for more detail.

[Via Boing Boing Gadgets]

[collegekid13 @ Jul 16th 2008 7:49AM]

does this mean i can now turn on girls in the videos.

or

is it a get to tighten the noose round the necks of those apple fanboys?

[Intrepid @ Jul 16th 2008 8:21AM]

Hahahahahahaha!

[Khris @ Jul 16th 2008 11:14AM]

Even with this technical advancement, you'll still have problems turning girls on.

[OneLove @ Jul 16th 2008 11:46AM]

I pwn knobs.

[Mr.Tech @ Jul 16th 2008 11:52AM]

I can finally turn off my wife big mouth.

[Lance @ Jul 16th 2008 7:50AM]

How come I never thought of this......oh thats right, im a dumb ass :)

[Almighty- @ Jul 16th 2008 8:33AM]

yes, your avatar explains everything :)

[Craig @ Jul 16th 2008 7:50AM]

Wow...just wow...would be awesome for prototyping stuff like industrial control panels or (small) audio mixing boards.

[Twitchy @ Jul 16th 2008 3:06PM]

Not to mention massive cost savings in the production of Inferno rigs etc. Now, instead of using machined custom parts, a generic LCD will do.

[rxan @ Jul 16th 2008 8:04AM]

I thought of the same idea months ago although more generalized.

You have a transparent token placed on a touch-screen. It is magnetic so it sticks to the screen at all times. The token has a button, so can be pressed like a real button, and the token can also be rotated. As long as you know where the token is, its orientation, and if it's being pressed, then you've got yourself a pretty interesting and general interface.

[turn_self_off @ Jul 16th 2008 8:19AM]

going magnetic would be a bad idea for the display tho...

[Danakin @ Jul 16th 2008 8:21AM]

...finger

[Darwin @ Jul 16th 2008 11:44AM]

1) Magnets don't stick to screens.
2) Average magnets don't have much effect on LCDs.

[generally @ Jul 16th 2008 11:44AM]

The story reads "The magnetic knobs can be removed and repositioned immediately by picking them up and moving to a different part of screen. A unique sensing x/y matrix is attached to the rear of the laptop screen to detect the control's position. The distance of the sensor from the screen can also be detected."

Magnets will ruin your CRTs, for sure. I remember putting a TV in my car trunk and having the (giant) speaker magnets ruin the TV with a distance of about 5 inches between them and the TV. As for LCDs, I don't think the magnets will ruin the screen, as it appears here.

[Darwin @ Jul 16th 2008 1:11PM]

@generally
The magnet probably is attracted to the sensor plate -behind- the screen. See for yourself if a magnet will stick to your LCD. I did before posting, just to be sure.

And if you need a sensor plate, there's no way you can put that behind a CRT's face. Not saying that very powerful magnets can't affect LCDs, however, since we are talking about EM fields, after all, but you wouldn't get the kind of electron accumulation you do with a CRT.

[Juaquin @ Jul 16th 2008 4:12PM]

Magnets will ruin LCDs. Not as easily as CRTs, but I work at a computer store and have seen it happen to a couple demo units.

[Handle @ Jul 16th 2008 8:13AM]

I had this exact same idea bout a month ago after thinking about the limitations of current midi controllers and touch screens. After giving it some thought I came to the conclusion that a modular system such as this would be a bit of a pain since you'd constantly have to rebuild control surfaces. You could group controls together whilst still maintaining a lot of versatiility but you'd lose more real estate and it's still not ideal. Tactile displays seem like a nice solution but tbh I think the fact that midi automation and control is still 7bit is an issue that has to be addressed before this.

[TRLK @ Jul 16th 2008 8:24AM]

Anyone thought of how cool this would be on Flight Simulator?
No more expensive custom made panels!

[nathan.wong @ Jul 16th 2008 12:16PM]

My thoughts exactly!

[insane.uk @ Jul 16th 2008 8:28AM]

Hmm, you get it set up all nicely then some bozo comes and rearranges all your knobs.

[Rick @ Jul 16th 2008 8:45AM]

I like having my knobs rearranged.

[tyler @ Jul 16th 2008 8:35AM]

To me, this is a pretty darn cool idea!

[nanobis @ Jul 16th 2008 8:37AM]

just dont forget to take them off when you close the lid, it could end up being expensive.

[IT-Accountant @ Jul 16th 2008 9:08AM]

If this were to work with standard desktop displays, this could totally revolutionize studio control surfaces. Think about it- you could build the exact control surface you want with an LCD display, a piece of software, and some stick-on knobs.. Awesome.

Problem #1: where do you get a large desktop touchscreen?

[Simon @ Jul 16th 2008 9:15AM]

It doesn't need a touchscreen, it works with some special "matrix on the backside of a typical laptop display". Wether this can be retrofixed to any display or if it needs to be build in tightly is not clear.

[Ladderless @ Jul 16th 2008 9:55AM]

You get them at "Large Desktop Touchscreens 'R US"

[Zoesch @ Jul 16th 2008 11:48AM]

Unless you want to switch to a different screen (Mixer, arranger, virtual instrument, etc.) and the knobs become useless (Mixer/arranger) or lose their relative position when you load a plugin or instrument.

The idea is clever, it's just not practical at all

[Simon @ Jul 16th 2008 9:11AM]

The knobs in the picture are way smaller than the one in the video. If the knobs need to be as large as the on in the video it's taking a big hit on your screen space. If they can make the small ones work this could be realy cool.

[thedesolate1 @ Jul 16th 2008 10:14AM]

this would be great for the Nintendo DS 2. Could you imagine getting 2 full screens and then just sticking the buttons in.... it would be awesome for emulation. A guy can dream.

[Dennis-d @ Jul 16th 2008 10:24AM]

Mine goes to ELEVEN!

[Dennis @ Jul 16th 2008 10:31AM]

Mine goes to ELEVEN!!

[Shane @ Jul 16th 2008 10:35AM]

Something like this already exists on a high-end commercial digital audio console...The knobs are integrated into the touchscreen though...

http://www.studer.ch/pdf/brochures/(1)%20Vista5%20SR%20brochure_lowres.pdf

The idea of being able to apply physical controls directly to on-screen virtual ones is very cool. I hope it finds its way into a commercial product that doesn't totally suck.

[SoreThumb @ Jul 16th 2008 10:36AM]

This is the future. 8)

[Sean @ Jul 16th 2008 10:45AM]

This reminds me of the "Reactable" used by Björk which is insane!

[BOGRASH @ Jul 16th 2008 10:50AM]

he could simply have rehearsed that video - he is yanking our chains here

[Mr.Hiller @ Jul 16th 2008 12:18PM]

OMG! It's Asgard technology – straight out of SG-1 3rd season

[Lawrence @ Jul 16th 2008 12:43PM]

I've seen something like this when they did that blogger retreat thing at MS Surface. Pretty cool stuff. They used the knob for the app itself, but the idea seems to be the same. Link below. The knob is used at around 4:15 into the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2Jzr4lplmU

[Grey @ Jul 16th 2008 2:52PM]

Hmm - physical knob to turn a virtual knob emulating a physical knob.

I'LL be impressed when we have a virtual physical knob that turns a virtual knob emulating a physical knob.

That's the ONLY way to adjust your volume.

Think enough recursion and we can get a virutal physical virtual physical virtual physical knob to control the weather? The theory is that God and physics don't want to count the damn loops and just say "sure - you turn the knob, i'll turn up the heat."

[Minilap @ Jul 16th 2008 3:10PM]

Simple idea yet mind blowing. It's gonna cost $$$$ for sure.

[Nate DiDonato @ Jul 16th 2008 3:23PM]

Want for pro-tools and adobe audition very very badly!!!

oh, and of course keyboard synthesizer programs...

[Nate DiDonato @ Jul 16th 2008 3:26PM]

Now kiddies...

Make sure you don't close the laptop with the knobs still attached :)

(I remember the days working at CompUSA and selling laptop screen replacement plans like crazy, simply by saying, "If you leave your pen on your keyboard, close the laptop, and break the screen, we'll replace it." Ahh... easy money.)

[BobbyDigital @ Jul 16th 2008 3:53PM]

This is awesome, but what about automation? The controls would probably be useless for most advanced studios, unless they were motorized to reflect the changes of levels in the software.

[Jerome @ Jul 16th 2008 4:23PM]

I don't understand how it works.

Did he modifiy is Latitude X1 with a touch screen or this is a wireless knob that send back data to the software.

There is something weird here.

[AlanAudio @ Jul 16th 2008 4:41PM]

I note that the video doesn't actually show a knob being attached to or removed from the screen. That's supposed to be a key element of this idea. All the video shows is a display that appears to react to a knob being turned.

I also have doubts about whether a magnetic device would be able to be attached through 5 mm of LCD, backlight and housing while being sufficiently secure to act as a viable operational control. A magnet strong enough to stick that well over such a gap might need to be so strong that if you placed it directly onto a metal sheet, it would stick so hard that you would have problems removing it.

[joe blow @ Jul 16th 2008 5:07PM]

Crank up ur pRon!

[ric @ Jul 16th 2008 6:25PM]

Just wait until you close your laptop lid after forgetting to remove one of these...

[duggy @ Jul 16th 2008 7:17PM]

Anyone ever heard of a general MIDI controller?

[esam @ Jul 17th 2008 7:41AM]

I think it would be possible to create this completely without having the x/y matrix on the back.

Using a knob with integrated light sensor and proper software one could flash/scan the screen and determine the position of the knob.

Now, that would be great :)

[S.J.G. @ Jul 22nd 2008 5:40AM]

Really usefull and handy :-)
I wish to view some gears like this : http://www.arturia.com/evolution/smf/index.php?topic=2108.msg6695#msg6695

[S.J.G. @ Jul 22nd 2008 5:50AM]

Really usefull and handy :-)
I wish to view some gears like this : http://www.arturia.com/evolution/smf/index.php?topic=2108.msg6695#msg6695