A Wacom Bamboo tablet I brought years ago has collected dust on top of my bookshelf for the last few years. After a few futile attempts of working with the tablet on the computer, I quickly became frustrated with the process. The tablet was definitely not functioning in the same way as physical paper, and the process was so unnatural the image evoked in my mind was not translating onto the computer screen very well.

The Sensel Morpho is a highly sensitive touchpad. (All photos courtesy of Sensel via Kickstarter)

A U.S. company Sensel is about to change all this with The Sensel Morpho. The Sensel Morpho is packed with 20,000 touch sensors that can pick up minimal pressure including light brush strokes. Professional artists and amateurs can throw away tablet stylus and trade them in for traditional paintbrushes, pencils, or even markers when designing digital art with the tablet.

The touchpad can also be applied in many different fields aside from art. With different magnetically attached flexible overlays, the touchpad can be transformed into keyboards, gaming controllers, DJ mixers and other devices. Musicians can compose music using the touchpad, while video game enthusiasts can gain more precision in gaming.

LED indicator lights can also be found on the device, and consists of a thin light strip. The company did not offer much details about the lights. Additional features packed into the touch pad include accelerometer, and Bluetooth LE. The company is also working with Hive Design on the aluminum casing of the touchpad.

Top: Breakdown of components in Sensel Morph. Bottom: Close up of electronic components found on top of the touchpad.

Sensel has raised US $196,537 on Kickstarter to fund the mass production of the touchpad, more than triple the amount of the company’s pledged US $ 60,000.

(Author: Judy Lin, Chief Editor, LEDinside)