Haptics Adds New Dimensions to Touchscreens

Sitting in a coffee shop in Mountain View, Calif., Mike Levin unlocks a large, hardened carrying case that looks like a prop from a movie. He opens it and reveals...not the antidote to a supervirus, but a pile of computer screens, mouse pads, and other parts. He fishes out a keyboard. It's paper-thin and almost completely flat. Then he connects the keyboard to a laptop, and the amazement begins. Instead of using actual keys, this keyboard has stationary, printed-on tiles that only feel as if they go up and down. "It's that feel of a switch going on and off that most people are looking for," he says.

Engineers have a word for what Levin is describing: haptics, or technology that adds tactile sensations to gadgetry. It's been around a while. Think of vibrate mode on a cell phone, or videogame controllers rumbling when a linebacker blindsides a quarterback. Levin is the chief sales and marketing officer of Pacinian of Spokane, Wash., one of many haptics startups to appear in recent years. In the near future, these companies plan to give smartphones and tablets new powers. Imagine videogame guns that deliver a kick to your hand when fired, just like the real thing; virtual guitars with strings that feel real; buttons and knobs that actually grow out of touchscreens.