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.
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. Οι ερευνητές ήθελαν να πετύχουν μία ισορροπία μεταξύ του καλύτερου αγώγιμου υλικού που να προσκολλάται απροβλημάτιστα στο χαρτί, και του όσο το δυνατόν χαμηλότερου κόστους, που θα μπορούσε να εφαρμοστεί σε ένα σενάριο μαζικής παραγωγής. Πολλά υλικά απορρίφθηκαν εξαιτίας του υψηλού τους κόστους, της μη επεκτασιμότητας και της κακής αλληλεπίδρασης με το χαρτί. Τελικά οι ερευνητές κατέληξαν σε two. On a carbon-coated plastic sheet, which would be attached to the back of the paper sheet, or on a paint with base the carbon which could be sprayed or passed as a film on an A4 adhesive.
They then connected the conductive materials of the sheet of paper to a sensor array, making it possible to digitize any object that moved on the sheet. Whether it's 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, grade a test in real time, and share articles in an online print newspaper.
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 large-scale production. They will officially present their work this week at the conference ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
