Technology is developing not just fast, but rapidly. What was recently considered almost a miracle is today used every day. The usual detail of everyday life are touch keyboards and screens. These devices are light and easy to use, have a long service life and high reliability - there simply are no mechanical elements that can break. Sensory
the keyboard (with established mass production) has a small cost, since there is no need to use cast forms and spend time and
human resources on assembly. The advantages of this technology include the fact that such a device is hygienic - there is nowhere to collect dust and dirt. Also, the touch keyboard is not afraid of spilled liquid (which is quite important for those who spend a lot of time at the computer and often eat and drink "without leaving the cash register"). A device of this type can have any number of buttons, any kind and configuration. It can be built into any device: industrial equipment, security systems, ATMs,
instrumentation , etc.
But, as always, there are cons. First of all, it is that difficulties arose with mass production. There are developments, but these devices are not widely sold. The thing is that you need a fairly sophisticated technology that will allow
to determine any touch on the sensor element, and this is costly, and, apparently, today is an intractable task (at least for now). There are also problems with the software, which should provide trouble-free operation. Some users also predict difficulties in using such keyboards: it will not be possible to
type using the
blind method, which is unlikely to appeal to the owners of such a skill. So the touch keyboard on the one hand is convenient and practical, but on the other it raises a number of questions.
Operating principle
The operation of sensor devices is based on the use of special sensors of a special design. As sensitive elements, pair contact pads are used, separated by a small gap. The number of sensors corresponds to the number of keys. When you touch a specific area with your finger, it strengthens the static potential, on the basis of which a signal is generated by a special circuit, indicating the sensor is triggered.
The touch keyboard is undoubtedly a more technological device than the usual button assemblies, but so far it has not received proper implementation. No, in some devices it is used (for example, in household appliances), but it usually has no more than a dozen (or so) keys. The familiar
computer keyboard has about a hundred of them, which, apparently, is the main difficulty for developers. There are already pilot releases, but before the mass production, it never came to that. But technology is advancing, and perhaps after some time, touch devices will already have an impact on keyboard choices. In the meantime, we are only thinking about whether it will be convenient or not, and we are calculating the theoretical benefits.