New Touchpad Can Be Folded

Roll up your smartphone and put it in your pocket. That is how promising the future looks after scientists from the University of British Columbia in Canada managed to develop a flexible touchpad. The touchpad is made of a waterbased gel, which resembles the material used for making contact lenses. The gel includes electrodes which register if one or several fingers are approaching, and they can also tell whether the screen is touched or bent. So far, the scientists have only made a prototype, which measures 5 x 5 cm, but the materials are so cheap that it will only cost approximately US$1 to make a flexible touchpad that measures one square metre.

Flexible technology is ideal for devices, which are worn on the body. Graphene will make flexible screens super strong. Flexible devices are more durable, because they are harder to break. A flexible touchpad, which can be used in future smartphones.