UNTACT – Contactless Kiosk Touch Monitors

Introduction

Most of us have used a multi-user self service kiosk at some point in our lives, train ticket purchases, fast food menus, car parking payments, hospital and airport check-ins, these are just a few applications that are there to make life a little easier. However, the question is now will COVID-19 (Coronavirus) or something else in the future make people reluctant to use these now necessary machines! Will kiosk owners/operators have to provide a disposable anti-bacterial wipe to be used to clean the touch surface of potentially harmful bacteria prior to each new use, or possibly a disposable stylus? Both are possible solutions, but both come with their own problems!

At Craft Data we believe we have the perfect solution to protect users for potential cross contamination. Our range of “UNTACT” Kiosk Touch Monitors from our partner GTT Co. Ltd. based in South Korea are fitted with their own designed and built infra-red technology based touch called “UNTACT”.

Technology Background

In conventional IR touch frames the IR emitters and detectors are mounted as close to the display surface as possible, typically 5mm. This ensures that a touch was only detected when a stylus (finger) was physically touching the flat surface of the display (TFT LCD) screen showing the intended touch target. In the early days of infra-red touch technology when the display was a curved CRT not a nice flat TFT LCD it was not possible to mount the IR touch frame close to the display surface of the CRT as infra-red beams can only travel in a straight line, so it was necessary to mount the IR touch frame away from the CRT’s display surface sometimes up to 20~25mm away from the screens surface. With this design it meant that a touch was detected some way away from the touch target shown on the display screen, the engineers at GTT have gone back to this concept and mounted the IR emitters and detectors 25mm away from the display surface but instead of seeing this as a problem they have used it as an advantage as the touch is now contactless! New features have been added to GTT’s IR frames to ensure that users realise a touch has been detected by the way of two built-in touch haptics and one external haptic provided by software on the PC.

Visual – an animated target is superimposed over the users intended touch target on the display screen (external software provided).
Light – LEDs mounted within the touch bezel switch on and illuminate the display area at the detection of a stylus and switch off when the stylus is removed.
Sound – a buzzer/beeper sounds to indicate the detection of a touch.

The use of these three haptics clearly shows the user a touch has been detected which in tests prompted the user to move onto the next screen/process within the menu driven application programme. Another feature within the UNTACT firmware is its polygonal touch function which allows the touch to detect a sleeve of a coat or a hand resting within the touch area and dismisses it whilst still processing the true or intended touch. A 6-point multi-touch function is also a feature and gives users the same pinch and pull functionality that they associate with their own smart phones.

Please see the following videos for a demonstration of the Visual, Light and Sound haptics used in the “Untact” IR Touch Technology.

Medical Check-In – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq_THORd4oU&feature=youtu.be

Lottery Kiosk – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1O0xG3r-uE

Fast Food Menu Kiosk – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju7-NbLULWs

Car Parking Payment Kiosk – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykdGLzWJ7gg&t=15s

Airport Self Check-In – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjruqVCasRU&feature=youtu.be

UNTACT Touch Specification

Size: 10″ ~ 150″
Light Transmittance: 100%
Touch Position Accuracy: 2mm
Multi-Touch Function: 1~6 Simultaneous Touch Points
Highly durable as there is no wear out mechanism
Response Time: 5~25ms
Interface: USB 2.0 (full speed), USB 1.1 (full speed), Plug n Play compatible, HID compatible
Operating Voltage: DC4.75~5.25V (USB PC Connection)
Good Resistance to EMI and RFI
Input Method: Finger, Gloved Finger, Artificial Hand, Pen Stylus Ø7mm
Haptics: Light Haptic, Sound Haptic, *Visual Haptic (*PC Software Support)
Windows Support: XP/7/8/10 32/64 bit (option; Linux & Android)

There are currently four sizes within the UNTACT range shown in the following table, all have a full HD resolution and are in the 16:9 format. IPS or MVA TFT LCD panels are used ensuring that all monitors have ultra-wide viewing angles of 178° on both the X and Y axis allowing the monitors to be mounted in both landscape and portrait orientations without the loss of image quality and colour.

Further sizes are in planning plus we can also offer a full customisation service should you require a different size, high brightness or a monitor for an outdoor application requiring full ruggedization etc..