I just got the Texas Instruments Capacitive Touch Pad accessory for the Launch Pad experimenter's board (P/N 430Boost-Sense1). It comes with a preprogrammed 20-pin chip with demo code to let you play with it right out of the box. There are no moving parts. It works by sensing the change in frequency a body (i.e. finger) effects upon a relaxation oscillator; the added capacitance lowers the frequency, which the microprocessor measures. This can work as a proximity sensor (just waving your hand an inch above the board wakes it up and causes the LEDs to swirl in a circle), and as a toggle switch (the center LED toggles on and off) and as momentary switches (the circle of touch pads) all via programming. The capacitive touch pad is $10, and you will need a LaunchPad board ($4.30).
My Utube video of playing with it [Link]
T.I. Capacitive Touch Pad [Link]
My other interests [Link]
Cool stuff.
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