Forget about a smart speaker, you'll soon be able to control your smart home with a few taps on your wall. Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and Disney Research have developed a way to make their walls smart, at a cost of $ 20 per meter, as NBC News noted.
Dubbed Wall ++, the researchers discovered that they could use conductive paint and a custom paint sensor plate to create electrodes and convert a standard wall into a gesture-sensitive touch screen and an "electromagnetic sensor to detect and track devices and devices." electric ".
The system could monitor the activity in the rooms, automatically adjust the light levels when it is switched on or off, or send an alert when a device shuts down. The Wall ++ could also track people who use certain electronic devices that emit an electromagnetic signature.
This is not the first time that Carnegie Mellon researchers have found a way to convert an analog surface into a touch screen. Last year, researchers at the university announced a system called Electrick that allows spraying conductive paint on smooth surfaces to allow touch controls.
There is still work to be done, the Wall ++ has not been optimized for power consumption, and there is likely to be an easier way to install it than to place a sensor board in the socket, but the overall functionality It seems to be ringing. Get ready to stop screaming at Alexa and start hitting your wall.
