By their very nature, touch phone screens are flat, glossy surfaces that transfer visual and audio signals to your brain. This is what they’re meant to do, and for the most part they do it well. But can they be improved upon? The minds at the company behind Mickey Mouse and the multiplane camera are working to do just that.

Haptic interface is the transmission of touch information from a screen to a user’s hand. Disney is working on a flat touchscreen technology that will allow the user to feel the shape and texture of objects displayed on the screen. Officially known as “tactile rendering of 3D features”, the process is complicated, but essentially boils down to the premise that small electronic pulses can trick fingers into perceiving different textures and bumps of objects shown on the flat screen.

This, in and of itself, is not new information, but the implied applications of this technology are staggering when one considers how common touchscreens have become in today. “Touch interaction has become the standard for smartphones, tablets and even desktop computers, so designing algorithms that can convert the visual content into believable tactile sensations has immense potential for enriching the user experience,” according to Interaction Group director, Ivan Poupyrev.

Disney also believes that textured screens hold great potential for disabled users. Their demonstration video shows real-time impressions, where a camera attached to the screen captures an image and the user is able to feel it. This holds potential for creating accessible technology for blind individuals to help raise awareness of their surroundings in a physical way. This technology, while not yet available, leads one to consider the staggering implications of this technology.

What Sparks Our Fire: Adding haptic interaction to visual and audio takes us one step closer to a full, immersive user experience.

What industries do you think will adopt this new technology first?