Zytronic’s Projected Capacitive Technology chosen by Abuzz for award-winning Edge kiosk

“We assessed several possible solutions,” says Morgan Drew, CEO at Abuzz. “Zytronic was the only manufacturer with the technology to allow us to optimise the functionality and aesthetics of the Edge kiosk without compromising the integrity of our design concept. PCT sensing technology works reliably, even through the thick layer of toughened protective glass, providing the performance we need. In addition, the product was simple to integrate, thanks to first-class technical support from Zytronic’s local representative, JEA Technologies Pty Ltd.”



The Edge kiosk won a 2007 Australian Design Award for its combination of world-class design, ergonomics and safety. The interaction surface is a continuous piece of 8mm toughened glass, which not only exceeds the safety requirements for public use, but also makes the unit splash-proof for robust operation. The 37-inch ZYTOUCH touchscreen is in portrait-format and is designed to be height-adjustable, enabling use by adults and children, and by wheelchair users.



The slim, stylish Edge kiosk is designed for use in airports, shopping centres, corporate and government buildings for wayfinding and displaying company information or directories. Its software-based interactive interface also allows product ordering, whilst its modern looks mean that it can be deployed in any situation that requires high-end styling and a confident design expression.



A typical wayfinding application for the Edge, which is already deployed in over 30 locations worldwide including major international cities such as Sydney and San Francisco, displays a visual “attract loop” to draw users’ attention. On touching the screen, the user is presented with search options for their destination. Once the destination is chosen, an animated route is displayed on screen, via a map oriented relative to the position of the kiosk, to make navigation as intuitive as possible.



Zytronics’ PCT enables these innovations by utilising state-of-the-art capacitance technology in the form of a complex array of micro-gauge capacitors embedded below the sensing surface itself. The nature of the technology means that the touchscreen can be actuated with gloved and un-gloved fingers, as well as providing unrivalled durability, since the capacitor array can be embedded to depths of up to 20mm.



ZYTOUCH screens provide fast response times of less than 20ms and high positional accuracy of better than ±1.5%. Because they are not subject to drift, they do not require the periodic re-calibrations needed by competing technologies, which can be particularly costly in the field applications addressed by the Edge kiosk.