Ohmic-Sticker: Force-to-Motion Type Input Device that Extends Capacitive Touch Surface

Abstract

We propose "Ohmic-Sticker'', a novel force-to-motion type input device to extend capacitive touch surfaces. It realizes various types of force-sensitive inputs by simply attaching on to commercial touchpads or touchscreens. A simple force-sensitive-resistor (FSR)-based structure enables thin (less than 2 mm) form factors and battery-less operation. The applied force vector is detected as the leakage current from the corresponding touch surface electrodes by using Ohmic-Touch technology. Ohmic-Sticker can be used for adding force-sensitive interactions to touch surfaces, such as analog push buttons, TrackPoint-like devices, and full 6 DoF controllers for navigating virtual spaces. In this paper, we report a series of investigations on the design requirements of Ohmic-Sticker and some prototypes.We also evaluate the performance of Ohmic-Sticker as a pointing device.