Carnegie University researchers Mellon made a simple, low-cost paper that can detect contact with the pen and that could be the future in automatic digitization of writing.
It is the familiar to all of us simple writing paper, size A4 adhesive, with the difference that on its back there is some conductive material. The researchers wanted to strike a balance between the best conductive material that adheres flawlesslyeyeon paper, and of the lowest possible cost, which could be implemented in a mass scenario production. Many materials were rejected due to their high cost, non-scalability and poor interaction with paper. Finally the researchers came up with two. On a carbon-coated plastic sheet which would be adhered to the back of the paper sheet or on a carbon-based paint that could be sprayed or run as a film on an A4 adhesive.
The conductive materials of the sheet of paper were then connected to a sensor panel, making it possible to digitize any object moving on that sheet. Whether it is a finger, a pen, or a stylus. As you can see in the video below, the researchers used a sheet of paper to digitize notes, digitally capture a board game, score a real-time test, and share articles in an online print journal.
The design resulted in a cost of about $ 0,30 per sheet, but the researchers say that the price can probably be greatly reduced through a large scale of production. They will officially present their work this week at the conference ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.