The Sensel Morph: INTERACTION, EVOLVED: The first pressure-sensitive, multi-touch input device that enables users to interact with the digital world like never before.

Check out some video footage of people using the Morph! Watch Josh Ellingson digitally paint with real brushes, Adriano Clemente, the director of Dubspot Labs, create an original track, Ray Kampmeier control a robot arm, and Joshua Davis create responsive art!

The Sensel Morph comes to life through the use of various overlays – thin, magnetic, flexible, and fully customizable surfaces that turn the device into virtually any tool or instrument imaginable. As you may have already guessed, the name “Morph” came from the realization that each overlay allows the device to morph into a new physical, tactile interface. Using unique magnetic identification codes, the sensor automatically detects each overlay and makes switching modes completely seamless.

With each device that we ship, you’ll be able to choose three overlays out of eight options including: (1) a QWERTY keyboard, (2) music production controller, (3) piano, (4) drum-pad, (5) art overlay, (6) gaming overlay, (7) the innovator’s kit, and (8) one additional overlay which will be chosen by our Kickstarter backers via the Overlay Contest.

We’re developing a simple web-based drag-and-drop interface that will go live when the first batch of devices ship. With this interface, you will be able to design your own overlay without having to do any coding. You will then be able to print them on paper (for use with the Innovators Overlay), or 3D print the overlays yourself. Pretty cool, huh?

One of the most exciting things about Sensel – maybe even more exciting than the Morph itself – is the community we plan to build. Users will not only be able to create new, custom interfaces for themselves using the simple drag-and-drop interface, but they will be able to easily share these interfaces with the entire community of Sensel Morph owners and talk to one another about what they’re creating with the Morph.

After developing early prototypes, we partnered with frog, a world-class design firm, to turn our early concepts into a device that’s ready for consumers. We worked with frog to refine and test core use cases for the Morph. We ended up with a design that is both sleek and functional.

The size of the device is similar to an iPad, which was purposefully done to make the Morph and the overlays easily portable. We found that these dimensions are ideal for two-handed interactions with the device, as well as for many art and music applications. The size is also convenient if you want to use the Morph alongside a tablet.

One of our favorite things about the Morph is that you can combine multiple devices. Below is an example of how we extended our piano — you can even put four Morphs together to create an instrument with 96 keys — more than a grand piano!

Beneath the smooth outer surface of the device are approximately 20,000 individual sensor elements at a spacing of 1.25mm (that’s less than 1/16”). We call them “sensels” for short, hence the name of our company.

Unlike other touch technologies, which can only sense conductive objects, each of the sensor elements in our device senses pressure with a high dynamic range. These sensors allow us to capture a high-resolution image of the pressure applied to the device. Highly tuned algorithms on the device take these pressure images and turn them into a list of touch locations, each with their own force and shape information. This touch location data is then used to enable all the applications we’ve described above and is also accessible to developers through our API. Here is what the sensor sees when you interact with a finger, hand or paintbrush:

You may be asking yourself: How can Sensel possibly fit 20,000 individual sensors into a device this compact and why has this never been done before? The reason is that it required three major innovations and a whole lot of elbow grease to make this technology possible – innovations in materials, manufacturing, and electronics. Our team worked closely with a material scientist to custom-formulate a highly-tuned polymer layer which gives each individual sensor element the ability to sense force. This material enables the product to have high sensitivity and a high dynamic range. In other words, it can detect anything from a feather-light tap to a hard push and everything in between (with over 4,000 detectable voltage levels).

Next, we created a new structure that allowed us to take advantage of advanced lithographic manufacturing processes (similar to how circuit-boards and semiconductors are built). In contrast, most force-sensing arrays available on the market today are screen printed (typically on a Mylar™ film), and thus cannot achieve high resolution or consistency, in comparison to Sensel’s process. This process allows us to create a very high resolution array of sensor elements on the same circuit board as the rest of our electronics, hence the 20,000 individual sensor elements.

Every sensor needs electronics to power it, read out signals and interpret those signals. The third major innovation is a new, patented electrical drive scheme and electrical circuitry that allows us to read this high-resolution sensor with commonly available electronic components, quickly and efficiently. This allows us to drive an exceptionally high-resolution sensor at high speed (>125 Hz), low latency (< 8 ms), and low power consumption at an affordable price point. We’ve also thrown in some extras like an accelerometer, LEDs, and Bluetooth LE support (along with a rechargeable battery) for those of you who can’t stand wires.

We also worked with expert mechanical engineers at Hive Design to design an aluminum housing for the Morph which is thin and lightweight, yet provides rigidity (necessary for when you’re really jamming on your device). It also holds the magnets which are used for overlay attachment and looks beautiful alongside your other devices.

Kickstarter is a place where we know we’ll find people who are always on the lookout for the next big thing, and we think we just might have it. We’re excited to see what you do with the Morph with the use-cases we’ve developed so far, but we’re even more excited to see what you come up with on your own. The moment of inexplicable excitement we experience when we see someone create a new tune, new piece of art, new game, new controller, or (best of all) something we’d never have imagined with our technology — that’s why we chose the Kickstarter Community.