Carnegie Mellon University researchers built a simple paper, low cost, which can trace contact with pen and where could the future be in automatic digitization of writing.
It is the familiar to all of us simple writing paper, size A4 glue, with the difference that there is some conductive material on its back. The researchers wanted to strike a balance between the best conductive material that adheres seamlessly to the paper, and the lowest possible cost that could be implemented in a mass production scenario. 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.