The Hapbook

A fictional product proposal utilizing Google's Soli technology to create
a virtual pen and paper at your fingertips


Inspiration is unexpected. It seems to come in short bursts, often in the most unexpected circumstances and usually for a short period of time. That sudden snap of an idea you get from inspiration can also seem like a fleeting moment, especially in our alert-o-sphere [1] culture. The most valuable ideas need to be recorded, and while speaking or tapping notes into your smartphone, or jotting on your tablet or computer are sufficient, these devices may not be on hand when your brilliant idea reveals itself.



Top: Google's Soli technology demonstrating the gestures of a common haptic archetype: The smartphone. Courtesy of https://atap.google.com/soli/.
Bottom: The conventional note taking process.

What if you could record notes, sketches or doodles using your fingertips in a different way? What if the surface is the palm of your hand? Try it out for a second: imagine yourself on a beautiful hike in the mountains, when suddenly you have an idea. To record this though, simply touch your index finger to your thumb (as if you were holding an invisible writing utensil) and start to jot down your content on your non-dominant hand. You've just taken down an important note without the need to disrupt the silence or enter the space of a screen!

What if this were a real product? Enter the Hapbook. A "notebook" in the palm of your hand (literally) capable of keeping up with your creative process no matter what. Using logic from the scenario mentioned above, Hapbook records your ideas. The handwritten gestures you make on your palm generate haptic feedback which are captured and translated into typography on a cloud-based storage system. No matter how crude your handwriting, the Hapbooks AI capabilities learn and adapt to your unique signature, translating the crudest characters into precise letterforms.[1] The device is smaller than a penny, and can be applied to a surface anywhere within visible range of your palm. One of the most popular applications for the technology is eye ware; the device contours the almost any frame and since it's lighter than a feather, it's out of sight and out of mind (until the idea hits).


Top: "Soli hardware prototypes July 2014 - May 2015". The latest incarnation of the technology pictured in the bottom right. Courtesy of https://atap.google.com/soli/.


The Hapbook is powered by Google's Soli technology; a powerful microchip (smaller than a penny) capable of tracking and translating your hands gestures at a high frame rate. Soli's technology works by emitting a beam of electromagnetic waves from a small surface area that scatter when your hands enter the projection space. The disrupted energy from your hand motions are tracked in real time, and redirected back to the radar antenna as in depth information (such as spatial proximity, distortion, scale, and speed).[2]

With Soli powering the Hapbook, the range of applications are limitless. People will be able to spend less time on a screen—often distracted by a whirlwind of apps and websites—and more time engaged in the moment. The classroom, for example, is another opportunity to take advantage of the Hapbook: research conducted by Pam A. Mueller of Princeton University and Daniel M. Oppenheimer of the University of California, Los Angeles have shown that students are able to process and retain information better when the data is taken down by hand. [3] The study points out the difference between quickly copying a professors lecture verbatim on a keyboard and paraphrasing the monologue with a pen and paper. While both are sufficient, people were able to internalize information better when writing by hand, the only drawback being that there was less content to look back on. With the Hapbook, people are able to benefit from the same cognitive process of handwritten note taking, without the need to carry a pen and paper!

The Hapbook is going to redefine the note taking industry. To learn more about the product, visit out website today!


1. Knight, Will. “What Comes After the Touch Screen?” MIT Technology Review, MIT Technology Review, 24 Oct. 2012, www.technologyreview.com/s/429546/what-comes-after-the-touch-screen/.

 2. “Project Soli.” Google, Google, atap.google.com/soli/.

 3. Staff, NPR, and James Doubek. “Attention, Students: Put Your Laptops Away.” NPR, NPR, 17 Apr. 2016, www.npr.org/2016/04/17/474525392/attention-students-put-your-laptops-away.

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