Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a simple, low-cost paper that can detect pen contact and that could be the future of automatic digitization of writing.
This is the well-known simple writing paper, dimensions A4 glue, 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 smoothly to paper and the lowest possible cost that could be applied to a mass production scenario. Many materials were discarded due to their high cost, non-scalability and poor interaction with the paper. Eventually the researchers came up with two. In a carbon-coated plastic sheet, which would be attached to the back of the sheet of paper or in a carbon-based paint that could be sprayed or applied as a film to 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.
