Multi-touch is an enhancement to touchscreen technology, which provides the user with the ability to apply multiple finger gestures simultaneously onto theelectronic visual display to send complex commands to the device.

Multi-touch has been implemented in several different ways, depending on the size and type of interface. Both touchtables and touch walls project an image through acrylic or glass, and then backlight the image with LED’s. When a finger or an object touches the surface, causing the light to scatter, the reflection is caught with sensors or cameras that send the data to software which dictates response to the touch, depending on the type of reflection measured. Touch surfaces can also be made pressure-sensitive by the addition of a pressure-sensitive coating that flexes differently depending on how firmly it is pressed, altering the reflection.^[1]Handheld technologies use a panel that carries an electrical charge. When a finger touches the screen, the touch disrupts the panel’s electrical field. The disruption is registered and sent to the software, which then initiates a response to the gesture.^[2]

In the past few years, several companies have released products that use multitouch. In an attempt to make the expensive technology more accessible, hobbyists have also published methods of constructing DIY touchscreens.^[3]