How to Turn Any Material or Surface into a Sensor on Kickstarter
| From: | David R. |
| Sent on: | Tuesday, November 12, 2013, 12:11 PM |
The touch board is capable of sensing both touch and distance, with no programming required. It comes preloaded with sound (so it works out of the box for novice users), but it can easily be expanded by more experienced programmers.The Touch Board turns touch into sound, and much more.
“Things that were once electrically dead suddenly become a point of interaction for computing,” explains Matt Johnson of Bare Conductive.
Watch: Kickstarter of the Week: Raising the Electrically Dead
Currently seeking funding on Kickstarter, Johnson explains that the campaign is just a small part of their story. "We are interested in developing ways to interact with computing that isn’t necessarily with a screen. The Touch Board is just a tiny piece of that," he adds. "We think there is a huge scope for new types of interactions."
"The new interactions are happening on unexpected materials, like paper and walls, and are possible because “the board knows you are there,” explains Johnson. "It has an awareness of your presence and that in itself leads to some cool application potential."
The board has 12 electrodes that work as sensors, but by using electric paint, or any other conductive material, users are able to create a much bigger interface. "The electrodes are a jumping off point for anything conductive," Johnson says.
The Touch Board is capable of sensing both touch and distance, with no programming required. It comes preloaded with sound (so it works out of the box for novice users), but it can easily be expanded by more experienced programmers.
The Touch Board features:
- An Arduino compatibility (recognized as an Arduino Leonardo in IDE).
- An Atmel ATMega32U4 Microprocessor.
- A Freescale MPR121 dedicated touch interface.
- A VLSI VS1053B audio processor.
- Arduino Shield compatibility (check pins available).
- 32 KB of Flash Memory of which 4 KB is used for bootloader.
- An operating voltage of 5 V (automatic voltage selector for USB or battery operation)
- Built in LiPo battery charging with onboard boost circuit for 5 V operation.
- A16 MHz clock speed.
- The ability to be powered and programmed over USB.
- 20 digital I/O pins (3 for Touch IC and 5 for MP3 IC - can be disabled).
- 7 PWM channels.
- 12 analog input channels.
- 12 touch electrodes of which 8 can be configured as extra digital inputs or outputs with PWM capability.
- A foot print of 84 x 62 mm with a maximum height of 10 mm.
- An on/off switch when powered from battery.
Johnson wanted to build on an Arduino board that was still going to be to be contemporary in 2014. After many iterations, the company moved forward with a Leonardo-oriented board.
The board is tightly packed, and making everything fit on a reasonably -sized board was the most difficult aspect of the design. “It’s important that the actual object is compelling in itself,” says Johnson, giving careful attention to every aspect of the design, from the screen-printed text, to the color of the board.
“Design led development is innovative when you own it. I think people talk about it but they don’t actually do it very often,” says Johnson. “We are trying to make such a seamlessly reliable device that the actual device won’t matter at all. What is most important is what the device does, not how it works.”
The device has had many interesting uses since its inception, and backers are identifying what parts of the board they find most powerful — including a large interest in using the board coupled with sound.
"Kickstarter is an incredible platform, but it presents a danger to the lone designer or engineer. [The designer] may be a great idea or product, but then are suddenly crippled by the interest," explains Johnson. "It’s a different skillset, making 10,000 rather than making 10."
Bare Conductive has no hesitations about being able to respond to the demand, even though they have more than doubled the original goal.
With 16 days remaining, the campaign has already surpassed its original goal of roughly $24,000 (£15,000) and raised more than $95,000 (£60,462).
The team continues to update their projections, and upgrade the board until it will ship to backers.
To support the Touch Board, visit www.kickstarter.com.
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