Chris Harrison, a PhD student in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute, has worked with colleagues at Disney Research, Pittsburgh, to develop a technique called capacitive fingerprinting that enables touchscreens or other objects to tell the difference between users based just on their touch.

The researchers are demonstrating the technology this week at the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology in Cambridge, Mass. Read about the technology at on Fast Company's Co.DESIGN website and check out the project team's video.