Microsoft Research Is Working On Pre-Cognitive Touchscreens

Imagine a smartphone you wouldn’t have to touch in order to do what you want; a display without smudges that acts like an extension of your mind. Sounds very futuristic, yet a team at Microsoft Research is working at a technology that will accomplish exactly that #mobilemagic

Pre-Touch Sensing for Mobile Interaction is a type of technology that would sense what you want to access on your phone without having to touch the display. In the video above, posted in late April, we can see the kind of interactions this would allow us.

In the research phase, scientists believe phones could use pressure sensors to determine the way we’re gripping a phone and in return what we intend to do with it. A special touchscreen that could sense the electrical disruption caused by a finger approaching the glass should open an app, make a call or raise the volume.

The interface would adapt on the fly, just as your hand approaches the device, without leaving smudges on it. Sounds very Jedi-ish to us, but in a couple of years, this pre-cognitive touchscreens could make it on your very own smartphone.