Touché: the Future of Touch Tech, Brought to You by … Disney?

Disney’s research and development team in Pittsburgh has produced a smart touchscreen system called Touché, which goes further than Apple did in giving touch technology unbelievably wide, yet totally unobtrusive application.

Think smart tables that look like the ones you have at home, smart doors and furniture, phones that sense touch on all sides, smart “liquid” that can tell when your hand is submerged in water or that you put a fork in your cereal instead of a spoon.

But the application most telling to us is one that resembles the technology of Sixth Sense, only less complex: the ability to play music or makes commands on your phone by touching your own skin.

“It is not inconceivable that one day, mobile devices could have no screens or buttons, and rely exclusively on the body as the input surface.”

That day is closer than we think; it awaits the right kind of minds to prepare the market, in the same way Steve Jobs prepared us for tablet consumption en masse by taking us down the unassuming path of iPod, iPod touch, iPhone … and then iPad. Disney’s got the brawn; what does it plan to do with it?

Via.