Everything’s coming together nicely. With the incessant march of innovations, updates, improvements and most importantly (for this entry at least) convergence, new gadgets are increasingly stuff that combines disparate technologies and make them work together in ways that give our twitchy, geeky hearts a workout. Fancy a touchscreen but want more “physical” method of interacting with the on-screen action? This “coming-together” of LCD touchscreen, sensor, and virtual reality technologies result in the SenseSurface – a new level of convergence for the virtual and the physical.

This system works by employing a magnetized back-board behind a display, combined with the appropriate software that enables precise measurement of the knob’s movement on the screen. So instead of touching a finger onto the screen itself and mimicking the movement of twisting a knob, you actually get to do just that – the system will do the rest. As of now this is simply a test project and no actual applications are available, but it is easy to see where this type of technology can be applied to.

Some will argue that this is simply a technological demonstration – of no real value except for experimentation purposes – and they would be right – after all, an actual, hardware box with the appropriate knobs connected to the computer through a normal interface like USB will work just as well. What’s missing in this scenario however is the ease of use and widespread applicability of this type of technology to anyone with just the software and no desire to spend for a hardware solution – in other words, the common consumer.

Better yet, combining this with other emerging technologies, like printable circuits, large, foldable displays, and touch-screen extravaganzas like Microsoft’s surface and Perceptive Pixel will result in a kind of on-screen, free-for-all interactivity not far removed from science fiction. Knobs are probably just the beginning – the magnetized sensing rear panel can be adapted to gestures, to motion sensing and other, more complicated devices other than knobs. With a large canvas (a touchscreen) backed by a full sensor “paintbrush”, the potential applications for this technology is excitingly broad.