Back to school

t the end of the 1990s, com­put­er rooms were enjoy­ing grow­ing pop­u­lar­i­ty in schools.  Since then, many stu­dents have opened their first web­site, cre­at­ed their first e‑mail address, typed the first lines into a Word file or pro­grammed an “If:then func­tion” in Excel. It was an excit­ing time…  

These com­put­er rooms still exist today but their use has become much more inten­sive due to advanc­ing dig­i­tal­iza­tion. In addi­tion to taking reg­u­lar com­put­er sci­ence lessons, pupils and stu­dents now solve math­e­mat­i­cal prob­lems, learn lan­guages and even take exam­i­na­tions there. 

But as dif­fer­ent as the uses of the rooms in the two sce­nar­ios described above are, one thing always remains the same — a key­board and a mouse pass through a mul­ti­tude of hands. This is any­thing but hygienic.

Due to their con­struc­tion and sur­face char­ac­ter­is­tics, con­ven­tion­al tac­tile sen­sors are a true par­adise for the repro­duc­tion of virus­es, bac­te­ria and germs. Dust and oth­er dirt par­ti­cles can eas­i­ly pen­e­trate between the keys and are very dif­fi­cult to remove. Dirt and aerosols also tend to set­tle on the sur­faces. These are stub­born and wip­ing with a damp cloth doesn’t real­ly help. The logi­cal consequence? 

The mul­ti­pli­ca­tion and spread of pathogens!