Virtual Touch or the Touchless Screen by VTouch, Inc. is a hygienic, non-contact, long-range touch solution for the post-COVID-19 era.
For the modern consumer, convenience is king. We are constantly looking for ways to make our lives just that little bit easier for ourselves.
Are you feeling hungry? You can just order food. Want to shop? Amazon’s going to deliver your purchased items to your doorstep. Even alcohol is being home-delivered, thanks to the economy of convenience we have created. But while life is certainly easier than ever before, it is also more dangerous, and the reason is the very screen you’re reading this article on right now.
Touchscreens Are Essential and A Part of Life
Touchscreens have become the norm of the 21st century. From airports to restaurants to your very pockets, everywhere we go, we find touch screens. And their numbers are only going to increase. The global multi-touch screen market, which was $8.47 billion in 2018, is projected to more than double that statistic by 2025, according to a report by Zion Market Research. But is more convenience really a good thing?
The COVID-19 pandemic has really opened the general public’s eyes to the plummeting standards of public hygiene, but it really isn’t a new discovery. A study conducted by the London Metropolitan University in 2018 found a disturbing fact about touchscreens at fast-food restaurants; they were teeming with highly contagious bacteria like Enterococcus faecalis (which is notorious for causing Hospital-Acquired Infections) and Staphylococcus, which can lead to serious skin and blood infections. A similar report by Investment Quotes mirrored these findings, though this study focused on touchscreens at airports.
In short: touchscreens are as dangerous as they are convenient and can potentially cause several diseases. But how do we stay safe from something that is increasingly becoming the norm of the land?
Samsung C-Lab outside venture VTOUCH says it has come up with the answer.
The “Touchless Touchscreen”: Deep Learning’s Potential Revealed in VTOUCH
To be fair, there are several alternatives to the conventional touchscreen. We have Infrared Touchscreens that use LED lights and motion sensors to prevent direct contact. Some sensors read hand gestures to try and predict the user’s intention. These alternatives aren’t that accurate, however. IR Touchscreens can be easily misled, and reading hand gestures is hit-and-miss. Such touchscreens often miss the user’s mark. VTOUCH circumvents these issues with its contactless technology.
How VTOUCH works is rather simple but is based on years of research and development. VTOUCH uses a 3D camera and deep-learning technology (AI) to analyze the user’s motions, pinpoint their precise movements and accurately predict where they are wont to point, with no delays.
VTOUCH requires no special learning for the user, as the technology it uses has a touch-like interface. Its patented prediction algorithm ensures Zero Latency in the response time. The device even accounts for differences in distance to make it convenient for usage by wheelchair-bound people, ensuring that the perception of VTOUCH is truly guided by the user’s full potential range of motions.
This makes VTOUCH the world’s first completely contactless touch technology, an innovation that, given the raging pandemic, is a crucial milestone in terms of digital technology and public health. These “touchless touchscreens” hold the key to reducing the chances of a contagious infectious disease breaking out and afflicting a large portion of the population.
As noted, staph infections are serious ailments, and the VTOUCH has the potential to eliminate the very possibility of you contracting it or any other such illness. VTOUCH aims to transform homes, vehicles and smart cities with its revolutionary technology.
VTOUCH Products
Their product range includes three distinct categories:
- Virtual Touch Panels that can replace touchscreen kiosks in restaurants, malls etc.;
- Virtual Touch Automotive for smart cars to enable touchless activation of features like air conditioning; and the
- Virtual Touch Home will make it much easier for you to coordinate and use all screen devices.
Samsung first unveiled the VTOUCH as part of its entries for the 2020 CES Innovation Awards. Samsung’s fabled C-Labs have always nurtured a culture of innovation and invention, and that was certainly reflected in VTOUCH’s recognition the very next year at CES 2021. The company is an Honoree at the 2021 CES Innovation Awards in the ‘Computer Peripherals & Accessories’ as well as ‘Smart Cities’ categories.
Virtual Touch Technolgy is a Critical Milestone in Safe Technology
Touchscreens are a part of our lives now, as much as the internet, and there’s nothing we can do to avoid that. What can be avoided, however, is the overflowing vat of bacteria and germs breeding on them.
We can use simple measures like wearing gloves whenever we use touchscreens in public spaces or disinfecting touchscreens before use regularly. But that is a quick fix to the problem, not a concrete solution.
VTOUCH’s unique, deep-learning technology is the proverbial torch in the darkness. It has the potential to solve a major contributing factor to deteriorating public health while championing technological advancement through the same medium- a touchless touchscreen.
