A new era in phone design has generated a shape shifting smarphone that mutates according to its function at the time.
The new phones, called morphees, could help create phones that look like something straight out of the movie Transformers.
The lead researcher, Anne Roudaut said that "these are mobile devices that can change shape on their own."
The Morphees, for example, could change shape once a user downloads a game, to resemble a player console. It could also curve and change to enable trigger function for shooting games. Or, touch screens could change the shape of the phone into the displayed object.
The materials used in the creation of the prototype range from the ultramodern to humble paper and wood. Also shape-memory alloys will be employed.
The prototype displayed at the fair was made of a plastic sheet between two electrode layers. As voltage was applied, the sheet expanded like a future touchscreen might do. The memory alloys were used as wires on the bottom of four prototype displays. When electricity goes through them, they bend, contort and change shape.
The applications are endless. Some of them have not even been identified by researchers and engineers yet.
Scientists contend that at first, we will see thinner mobile accessories, then bendable. But the next wave after that, will see devices that are actuated, a change projected in the next 5-10 years.
Source: Discovery news 4.29.13
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