Next month, Apple will release its iPhone 6S, which many speculate will include the company’s Force Touch technology, which would allow a user’s finger pressure to provide precise control over a variety of features. Ahead of this launch, however, a startup called Sensel, has jumped onto Kickstarter with its own version of Force Touch tech and it’s a whole lot bigger than an iPhone. And, with a bit of 3D printing, users can customize the Sensel Morph to become a custom device.
The Sensel Morph, which is on the path to more than double its crowdfunding goal, in record time is somewhere between a Wacom tablet and a universal remote. An empty canvas with 20,000 built-in pressure sensors, the Morph can be plugged into a Mac and begin working as a trackpad, informed by the user’s touch. A light graze with a paintbrush is useful in digital artwork, while a sustained push might serve well for locking in a beat on Ableton. The startup explains the technology in this way:
Unlike other touch technologies, which can only sense conductive objects, each of the sensor elements in our device senses pressure with a high dynamic range. These sensors allow us to capture a high-resolution image of the pressure applied to the device. Highly tuned algorithms on the device take these pressure images and turn them into a list of touch locations, each with their own force and shape information. This touch location data is then used to enable all the applications we’ve described above and is also accessible to developers through our API.
With the Morph’s overlays, these applications are stretched as far as the imagination. The campaign page demonstrates a number of overlays, including a computer keyboard, a production studio controller, a piano keyboard, or a gamepad, all with functions that could be determined by the user or a given app. The company plans to mass manufacture 10 overlays, including the aforementioned, plus a drum pad, a transparent “Innovator’s Kit”, an artist’s palette, and a yet-to-be-determined design selected via contest.
On top of that, however, Sensel anticipates that users will 3D print their own overlays customized for their own purposes. 3D printed overlays open up a whole new method for creating controllers, without the need for 3D touch-capacitive circuits. In the video below, you see one Maker controlling a robot with the device. A custom, 3D printed overlay would give the inventor even more precise control, suited for the task at hand. And, when he’s done, he can switch to a different overlay with a quick swap.
Early bird packages are gone at this point, but you can still pick up the Morph at a price of $249, which comes with three overlays. It’s a new device, but, like the Leap Motion before it, I bet that Sensel’s customers will think of some pretty ingenious uses for the device. And, if you think you can think of your own winning overlay design using their templates, submit it to their contest here.
