Wired Walls

Smart phones, smart speakers, smart watches! What’s next?

This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying….smart WALLS?

Walls are the canvases of a room, showcasing beautiful paintings and crayon drawings. With some new technology, you could digitally interact with your walls!

The creative minds at Carnegie Mellon and Disney Research were bored with regular dumb walls. So they turned them into smart walls!

Your smartphone knows where your finger is by using special sensors. These sensors detect the electrical charge that is naturally present on your skin. The researchers found that they could PAINT these sensors onto surfaces.

They tested different paint materials, sensor connections, and painting methods. Their final formulation is based on water and nickel, and uses copper for the connections. The painted walls could track users’ touch and detect electrical devices!

Next step, a room sized iPad! Better yet – No fancy skills or equipment required for installation! All you need to know is how to paint a wall. Eventually we can say goodbye to boring white walls and hello to smart sensing walls!

Now if only I could paint on more power outlets!