It seems familiar. A woman touches the image of a butterfly on a screen and the image comes to life. But this is no oridinary touch screen; this one is made of paper.
The technique is called polychrome paper computing. Invented by Kohei Tsuji and Akira Wakita of Japan’s Keio University, it involves using paper that changes color thanks to temperature-sensitive liquid crystal ink contained in tiny microscopic capsules. It works similar to plastic touch screens. A component detects small changes in electricity caused by touching. In this case, it's a thin sheet of copper foil. A paste of silver acts like an electrode and a paste of carbon acts as a heating element.
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When a person touches the paper, the copper foil detects capacitance change, sends the signal along the silver paste electrode and causes the carbon to heat the temperature-sensitive ink, altering its reflective quality.
The idea is to bring interactivity to ordinary paper. Touch screens are complicated to make, and are of course rigid. But for artists who want to use the unique qualities of paper and take advantage of the tactile nature of paint, this technique offers a beautiful and simple solution. It also allows for a kind of animation -- done by showing and hiding different colors.
Wakita and Tsuji presented two works of art at SIGGRAPH in Hong Kong. One is a star map with a show/hide function that works at different temperatures. Another is an exhibit called “Anabiosis” that displays butterflies based on an early 20th-century set of paintings by a German entomologist.
Image: Wakita Lab
Tags: Computer Hardware, Inventions, Materials, Materials Science, Sensors
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