Sensel Morph Looks to Change Peripherals

Shipping is expected from June of next year.

The Sensel Morph is a touch-input device that is meant to change the way we interact with the digital world. It can be used with optional magnetic, flexible and customizable overlays that turn devices into the instrument or tool that the user chooses. At the time of writing, close to 500 backers have already pledged a total of more than $120,000 to the device, with the campaign now looking to reach the stretch goal of $250,000 so that the Sensel Morph will be shipped within a custom sleeve that will hold the device and its accessories.

The Sensel Morph is sized similar to the iPad mini and has 20,000 pressure sensors embedded within it as part of the company’s patented Pressure Grid technology. The device can translate the detail, speed, expression, and power of touch with a level of precision far superior to swiping on a tablet surface, according to the company. The Morph “comes to life” with the use of application specific overlays like a keyboard, piano, music production controller, game pad, art tablet, drum pad, and more.

In addition to fingers and styli, the Sensel Morph can detect any object or creative tool, including paintbrushes and drum sticks.

Sensel’s partner in the project is frogVentures, the investment arm of product strategy and design firm Frog.

In a demonstration to The Verge, the Sensel Morph was said to be able to detect even the softest pressure, even picking up a paintbrush’s bristles as it glided through the Sensel Morph’s surface.

The company is also offering its API for the Morph to developers who want to build the pressure data into their own apps and opening a contest for backers to create their own overlays. As more interfaces are created for the device, users will be able to share them with other owners to order. The Kickstarter campaign opens the preorders for The Morph, for $199.

-What do you hope to achieve through the Kickstarter campaign?

That’s why it’s called the Morph… because it’s easy for the touchpad to morph into something else.

“We’re now accustomed to using electronic devices that upgrade and improve over time, and until now, physical interfaces (keyboards, mice, midi controllers, etc) have been the exception”, says Aaron Zarraga, CTO and co-founder of Sensel. We’re hoping that people use the Morph to create interfaces that have never been possible before. The device will allow users to interact with their computers and software in an entirely new way. They allow a high-resolution image of the pressure applied to the device to be captured.