The evolution of touch technology

It’s quite difficult to believe that just decades ago, the mere concept of a touch-enabled device could only be found in sci-fi flicks and novels. Nowadays, it’s practically impossible not to have a touchscreen gadget within an arm’s length. In fact, touchscreens are everywhere — from the thermostats in your homes, to center consoles of your cars, to the phones in your pockets.

In celebration of our 30th birthday here at Atmel, we’ve decided to not only reminisce our earliest days but to take a trip down memory lane to explore touch technology’s evolution from fiction to fact…

1948

The Electronic Sackbut is designed by Hugh Le Caine at his home studio in Ottawa, Ontario.

(Source: Wikipedia)

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1965

E.A. Johnson invents the finger-driven, capacitive touchscreen at the Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern, United Kingdom.

(Source: Ars Technica)

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1970

Dr. G. Samuel Hurst designs the first resistive touchscreen — almost by accident.

(Source: elotouch)

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1971

PLATO IV not only became one of the first generalized computer-assisted instruction systems, but the first to be used in a classroom setting. Students could answer questions with the tap of a finger using the device’s infrared touch panel.

(Source: NPR)

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1977

One of the early implementations of mutual capacitance touchscreen technology is developed at CERN.

(Source: Wikipedia)

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1982

University of Toronto’s Nimish Mehta develops the first human-controlled multi-touch device, dubbed the “Flexible Machine Interface.”

(Source: BillBuxton.com)

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1983

HP Series 100 HP-150 becomes one of the earliest touchscreen computers.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Myron Krueger introduces Video Place, a vision-based system capable of tracking hands, fingers and people using a set of gestures.

(Source: DivergencePress.com)

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1984

Bob Boie of Bell Labs officially develops the first multi-touch overlay.

(Source: Tested.com)

Casio rolls out its AT-550 watch with a touchscreen.

(Source: Adafruit)

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1986

The Buick Riviera features a touchscreen in its Graphic Control Center.

(Source: Popular Mechanics)

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1993

IBM and BellSouth debut the first-ever touchscreen phone, the Simon Personal Communicator.

(Source: GSMArena.com)

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1998

Palm Inc. releases the Pilot, the first generation of its PDA devices.

(Source: Wikipedia)

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1999

Wayne Westerman and John Elias create FingerWorks, a company that specializes in multi-gesture input devices.

(Source: BillBuxton.com)

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2001

Alias|Wavefront launch the Portfolio Wall for large design and 3D animation teams.

(Source: Car Design News)

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2002

Sony introduces mutual capacitive touch recognition with SmartSkin.

(Source: SonyCSL.co.jp)

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2004

Andrew D. Wilson develops a gesture-based, 3D-capable imaging touchscreen called TouchLight.

(Source: Seattle Pi)

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2005

JazzMutant releases the Lemur, a music controller with a multi-touch screen.

(Source: Technabob)

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2006

Jeff Han unveils an interface-free, touch-driven computer screen at TED.

(Source: TED.com)

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2007

Apple successfully releases its touchscreen-equipped iPhone.

(Source: TechnoBuffalo)

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2008

Microsoft introduces the Surface table.

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2009

Nortd Labs launches TouchKit, a DIY modular development solution to make multi-touch readily available in an open source manner.

(Source: Nortd Labs)

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2010

Apple introduces the iPad.

(Source: Discovery News)

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2011

Microsoft and Samsung partner to introduce the SUR40 touch-capable surface with PixelSense.

(Source: SlashGear)

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2012

Atmel XSense is introduced to the world, enabling future curved surfaces and flexible displays.

(Source: Atmel)

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2013

The Atmel team exhibits AvantCar, a fully-functional center console equipped with two large curved touchscreen displays – without mechanical buttons.

(Source: Atmel)

The burgeoning Maker Movement paves the way for Bare Conductive to launch its [ATmega32U4 powered] Touch Board, now enabling everyone to easily transform any material or surface into a touch sensor.

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2014

Whirlpool imagines a kitchen of the future with a touchscreen stovetop capable of displaying recipes, social feeds, weather and more.

(Source: Verge)

A team from Carnegie Mellon University’s Future Interfaces Group creates Skin Buttons, touch-sensitive projected icons made on a user’s skin.

(Source: Atmel Blog)

The Centre for Process Innovation devises an idea to remove passenger plane windows and replace them with OLED touchscreens.

(Source: Centre for Process Innovation)

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What will be next? As we gaze into the future, unlimited-touch capability will open up a range of endless possibilities for interface designers. From our touchscreen controllers to touch sensors and everything in between, Atmel has and will continue to provide the next-gen technologies enabling innovative and differentiated designs.

Infographic: tracing the touchscreen back to the future

Just a few decades ago, touchscreen technology could only be found in science fiction books and film. However, touchscreens have become so ubiquitous that, today, most children believe displays lacking touch-based interactivity are broken.

Interestingly, the underlying technology for touchscreens can actually be traced back to the 1940s, although they weren’t even remotely physically feasible until at least 1965 when E.A. Johnson of the United Kingdom came up with what historians generally consider the very first finger-driven touchscreen. Nevertheless, it wasn’t until 1982 that the first human-controlled multitouch device was developed at the University of Toronto by Nimish Mehta.

It’s worth noting, at this juncture, that as humans, we have a particular fondness for touch.

Touch is apparently the first sense to develop in humans and may also be the last to fade. We’re also highly sensitive creatures, with five million touch receptors in our skin – 3,000 alone in a finger tip.

The infographic below outlines some of the more historic milestones in touchscreen history, along with some of the wackiest. For example, did you know the world’s largest touch screen is 10 meters long and can accept up to 100 multi-touch inputs at one time? No? Well you do now. This particular screen was developed by a group at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Similarly, the “coolest” touchscreen ever made was developed by a Nokia Research Center team in Finland in 2010. Bringing a whole new meaning to “freeze frame,” Nokia created a 6.5 foot by 4.9 foot ice wall of touch.

Of course Atmel has a few milestones of its own when it comes to touch. The firm snapped up Quantum Research Group Ltd., a developer of capacitive sensing IP, in 2008 and has been making its presence felt in the world of touchscreens ever since.

More recently, Atmel successfully developed, manufactured and shipped XSense, which can best be described as a high-performance, highly flexible touch sensor on extremely bendable, flexible plastic, allowing engineers to design devices with curved surfaces.

What’s the big deal about curves, you ask? Well, aside from them being sexier (ask any woman you know), curved screens actually cause a series of optical effects that result in improved contrast, color accuracy, readability, and overall image quality — especially under ambient light.

Another benefit of a curved screen is privacy, because when content is viewed from an off-center angle the content on screen is less visible.

Atmel’s XSense also allows for super accurate handwriting recognition with a stylus, which is useful if your handwriting is anywhere as bad as mine.

And, best of all, XSense is made right here in the USA; designed and manufactured in California and Colorado Springs.

Oh, and don’t forget, if you have a creative idea about what you’d do with a bendable, flexible touchscreen, why not enter our XSense design contest here for a chance to win $1500.