Hands Off! Or On? Smart Touch Solutions for Anti-vandal Applications

Cutting-edge touch technology can help forward-thinking industrial designers develop rugged, vandal-proof public amenities, without compromising user experience.

Amenities in busy, public spaces must be built to withstand heavy usage, and unfortunately, they often need to be vandal-proof. Today, defacement and willful destruction of property is still commonplace, with vandalism and criminal damage ranking as the second most common crime in both Sweden and the UK.

Unsurprisingly, vandalism is more prevalent in certain high-traffic areas like train stations, bus stops, and parks. Essential amenities we use every day, like vending machines, restrooms, and kiosks are often targeted.

Manufacturers that design these applications need to get increasingly creative. From vandal-proof upholstery to concrete advertising screens and billboards, innovative industrial designers are exploring new ways to incorporate different materials into their creations – using sturdy, durable alternatives that are vandal-proof as well as resistant against wear and tear.

But working with special anti-vandal materials, such as thick stainless steel, hardened plastics and protective covers presents its own challenges. Embedding cables and screens, or any other sort of technology can be tricky. And of course, most people aren’t vandals, and ease of use should still be prioritized over security.

But how do you keep things ultra-secure, while still guaranteeing a seamless user experience?

Turn any surface or material into an interactive keyboard or screen

With Neonode Touch Sensor Modules, it’s possible to transform any material or surface into an interactive experience or burry a standard display behind thick tempered glass and keep it interactive and as responsive as a touch screen on a standard application, made possible thanks to the very high refresh rate of the sensor - up to 900Hz.

Based on revolutionary infrared touch sensing technology, manufacturers can project any user interface (UI) onto reinforced glass, steel, and hardened plastics with complete image clarity and hyper-accurate responsiveness. Better even, users can control the interface with bear or gloved hands or with any stylus or object.

This completely eliminates the need for buttons or screens and reduces the number of mechanical components required. Neonode's revolutionary touch system emits beams of infrared light from a small, sleek module, to cover an area that overlaps with a display or surface that requires interaction.

Neonode Touch Sensor Modules can be quickly retrofitted onto any structure or machine, or easily embedded within their own chassis, allowing total design freedom on new and existing products. By following the recommended design principles and guidelines, it is also possible to incorporate ingress protection to the design and offer compatibility with dusty and wet environment whilst offering immunity to electromagnetic interference. Because the display and touch controllers are independent of each other, touch functionality will still work, even if the display does get damaged.

All you need to do is decide what you’d like your interactive interface to look like – whether it’s a keypad, menu or simple buttons – Neonode can provide an off-the-shelf or customized solution based on your design needs.

Elevating anti-vandal design

So imagine this: you approach a vending machine in a subway station for a quick snack, but instead of tapping your card and punching ‘A3’ into a physical keypad, a projection of a keypad glows directly on the metal surface of the machine. Or even better – the reinforced glass lights up with interactive buttons, and you just tap on the glass in front of your favorite bag of chips to make your selection.

Here are some other examples of applications in high-risk areas:

• Lockers: whether your designing a self-service postal box or a pick-up locker for pharmacy prescriptions, ensure the contents held within are kept safe and secure.

• Advertising screens: make vandal-proof advertising screens swipeable and fun with no risk of incurring damage.

• Self-service kiosks and vending machines: allow people to tap any surface to order whatever they need, without using physical buttons.

• Public restrooms: remove open, close, lock and flush buttons completely with smart infrared solutions.

• ATM machines: remove physical keypads and quickly make reinforced screens fully interactive, or ditch them completely and project the ATM display directly onto a wall.

• Intercom systems and access locks: allow people to enter codes or make intercom calls without any physical keypad or external unit – rain or shine, gloves or no gloves.

More durability, with more flexibility

Solutions like infrared touch bring more flexibility and creativity to industrial design, opening up new ways to create safe, secure, high-quality products for heavy use.

Whatever materials, surfaces or application you’re working with, our technology can reduce risk, while creating a better user experience.