Force Touch is a haptic feedback technology developed by Apple and integrated into the latest models of the iPhone smartphone. Now, engineers from the University of Michigan have developed a similar technology and may be released for the benefit of the general public.

Unlike the Force Touch technology from Apple that users sensors in the touchscreen, the new technology uses ultrasound. A phone equipped with such technology can use its speaker to emit a sound covering between 18 to 24 kHz ranges which is well undetectable by the human ear. However, a smartphone's microphone can detect and pick up such sound.

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When users try to press the screen or squeeze the body of the phone, the sound is detected, and the software is able to respond. The sound is virtually undetectable to the human ear, and even dogs, whose sense of hearing are well beyond humans, cannot detect the sound.

University of Michigan professor in electrical engineering and computer science Kang Shin said, "You don't need a special screen or built-in sensors to do this. ForcePhone increases the vocabulary between the phone and the user."

Using the technology developed by Shin and his team, users can program their smartphones in varied ways. According to Engadget, a hard squeeze on the smartphone can be programmed to have the home screen displayed. Moreover, a series of squeezes can also be programmed to do different things like call emergency phone numbers.

Shin and his graduate student, Yu-Chih Tung, took their inspiration from a "Batman" movie. Shin explained that in "The Dark Knight" movie, Batman was able to track his nemesis, the Joker, by turning all of the phones in the city into a sort of sonic locator.

Since the technology is still in its infancy, not much is known about it.

Shin and Tung are planning to present their work at the upcoming MobiSys conference in Singapore next month, according to Tech Crunch.

TagsForcePhone, ForcePhone news, ForcePhone technology, ForcePhone specs, ForcePhone features, haptics, Force Touch