Sony working on foldable gadgets

Sony may be thinking about usurping the whole Origami concept if they ever start making devices based on a recent patent filing.  It seems that the mobile techno wizards are working on polymer-based electronics that are bendable to make the device smaller for carrying around.  Talk about your Transformer!  The bendable electronics could be employed in any type of mobile device.  Now that’s a real Origami device.

The body and screen of folding gadgets would be made from a flexible polymer containing conductive rubber bracing struts filled with a gel of aluminosilicate particles suspended in silicone oil.

When a current is passed through the struts, the particles clump together and harden the gel, making the gadget solid enough to use. Sony has found that it would take very little power to make such a folding device harden, so the drain on its battery should be low. The company's patent adds that the transition from soft to hard takes just milliseconds. It suggests that the same technique could even be used in a video game controller to make it jolt or change shape in response to on-screen action.

(New Scientist via I4U)

-jk

Comments

[Ansin Ozturkmen]

"Sony may be thinking about usurping the whole Origami concept if they ever start making devices based on a recent patent filing."

Exactly! The best opinion for some time. Apple is trying to do the same thing to do UMPCs, PDAs and
possibly smartphones. They are trying to patent the letters so they can abuse you for using words.