Singaporean studio Stuck Design just created Kinetic Touchless elevator buttons, sparing us all from ever having to touch one again. This is great news given how COVID-19 infections are nearing 100 million worldwide, since the virus survives on surfaces and is transferred by touch. The buttons are one of many examples of the myriad new touchless devices being created, too.
The Kinetic Touchless button mimics the way a standard button works, but uses motion as an input method, rather than direct contact. All you’ll have to do is hold out your finger in front of the button and move it forward, just like you would while pressing the actual button, and the touchless technology responds accordingly. The button even physical moves in and back out with your gesture.
On the studio’s site, it mentions “With contactless interactions on the rise in the face of COVID-19, most touchless tech tends towards a static sensor with a light or buzz to indicate an activated button, greatly diminishing the push button interaction. On the other hand, the Kinetic Touchless button uses motion as feedback,” and that “By going beyond the expected feedback of light and sound, Kinetic Touchless provides a surprisingly delightful and yet newly familiar way to interact with contactless technology.”
Stuck Design already has a working prototype, which is great, but the technology is still experimental and not found on any elevators. Hopefully, the design can head into production and distribution soon, as nobody likes pressing dirty elevator buttons (even without COVID-19).
via Engadget
