Tactile device replaces the touch screen

Researchers at the University of Buffalo (UB) in the US have just introduced a device called the Fingertip Digitizer, which allows computers to accurately interpret human movements.

To feel the touch and gesture of the hand, this device uses a force sensor, an accelerometer and a motion detector - all integrated in an iron ring small enough to be worn on the finger. .

Photos: ZDNet With the Fingertip Digitizer, people don't have to use the touch screen anymore but just move their hands in the air when they look at a program or easily move, arrange or open an electronic file .

The Fingertip Digitizer can be delivered to the computer with every accurate information every time users wave, type, twist, swipe or slide their finger on an object's surface. It acts as a PC mouse but has much higher accuracy.

" The gesture recognition function of Fingertip Digitizer will be equipped for a wide range of applications from personal computing to medical diagnostics and computer games ," said Dr. Young-Seok Kim at UB. He developed Fingertip Digitizer with Thenkurussi Kesavadas, Director of UB's Virtual Reality Research Department.

"The Fingertip Digitizer shortens the gap between what users know and what a computer can understand, " Kesavadas said. " Therefore, mobile phones, computers and PC games will read users' intentions more naturally ."