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Nowadays, in places like elevators, a technology has been developed to press the button without touching without worrying about infection. It is a non-contact technology that uses water remaining on the skin, and it is more likely to be commercialized because it is more sensitive than conventional sensors and has a low production cost.

Reporter Seo Dong-gyun on the sidewalk.

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A man touched the elevators with his bare hands, and then, even with a saliva on his palm, applied to the buttons and handles and disappeared.

This happened in Thailand in March, but concerns about infection through button-type facilities such as doors and elevators are not easily reduced.

In fact, there are infrared methods that operate the buttons without touching them.

This is a method of recognizing the amount of infrared radiation that changes when you put your finger through the hole drilled in the digit.

Ten years ago, technology and sensor prices were expensive, so only 50 units were distributed nationwide.

The Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute has developed a sensor that uses skin moisture to solve this problem.

This is a technology that detects humidity, which is 660 times more sensitive than conventional sensors, so you can sense humidity without touching it like this.

The detection speed is also 0.5 seconds, which is 10 times faster than conventional humidity sensors.

[Choi, Chun-Ki / Researcher, Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute: By installing a preservation circuit for humidity environments and applying a temperature compensation circuit, the (environmental) effect can be reduced.

The researchers predict that if the detection distance, which is about 1 cm, is increased to increase the convenience, it can be commercialized in button-type facilities such as automatic teller machines, doors and elevators within two years.