As members of screen culture, we probably spend at least a third of our day interacting with touchscreens. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t miss having a physical connection with our tech—the tactile sensation of pressing a button or twisting a dial, for example. But luckily, now there’s Thumbles: the small robots that you can place over touchscreens to provide temporary physical controls.
Developed by design shop PattenStudio, these self-powered bots can interact with any projected interface or touchscreen, providing users with a much-needed physical interface when using their tech. While Thumbles users can still work their touchscreens with finger taps or slides, the Thumbles robots can be used to add texture to any activity.
One could use slide a Thumbles robot back and forth to physically scrub video footage when editing, for instance, or use a trio of the bots as color dials that can be tactilely adjusted. They can even provide force-feedback: users would encounter resistance if they rotated a dial past the maximum limit, or when a slider was moving too far forward.
Eventually, the Thumbles creators think their invention could be used to create a massive keyboard with 26 of the tiny bots, though they would have to be miniaturized a bit if users wanted to use that keyboard to type. But PattenStudio’s innovation could definitely be incredibly useful for any type of editing or graphic design.
If you want to discover more PattenStudio gadgets, you can visit their website.
Source Gizmodo
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