We can now buy phones with folding screens, but in the future our touchscreens could be broken into pieces and put back together again.
Alix Goguey at Swansea University and colleagues have developed a screen comprised of individual blocks that can be arranged in different ways, like Lego bricks.
A user could reconfigure individual cells, called PickCells, in the shape that best suits their current activity.
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For example, you could pull a row off PickCells that are arranged as a large screen and use the strip as a remote control, or could change the shape of your device to function as a video game controller.
You could also arrange the cells in a particular way to form a physical password that unlocks the device, or exchange information with other people by swapping individual cells, says Goguey.
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The team has built a prototype from smart watches embedded into 3D-printed cases. Each cell has lever switches and magnets on its sides. When a cell attaches to another magnetically, the changes in the position of the switches provide updated information about the cell’s location.
The cells feed information wirelessly to a computer that tracks overall configuration, as the prototype does not work as a standalone device yet.
The prototype cells have square screens and are approximately 3.5 centimetres by 3.5 centimetres in size. The concept could be applied to cells of different shapes, or as small as 1 centimetre x 1 centimetre, says Goguey.
The unpredictable device shape may pose a challenge for app developers. “It’s not a rectangle anymore, it’s some shape that you don’t control,” says Goguey. “When you break groups, it’s like an application becoming two applications,” he says.
The team are now working on programming possibilities for when different cells are separated or connected.
The research was presented this week at the conference on in Glasgow.
