The IR touch screen is a very well established, well proven, and reliable technology. Invented in 1971, the first "touch sensor" was developed by Dr Sam Hurst (founder of Elographics) in 1983 Hewlett-Packard's HP-150 was one of the first commercially available IR touchscreen PCs with a grid of infrared beams across the front of a monitor which detected finger movements.

Other touch technologies have been developed since including resistive and capacitive used in many hand held devices and the much later optical imaging technology.

Dr. Andrew Hsu, an expert on touch screen technologies, states in his research paper that “IR (infrared) screens are among the most durable surfaces and can handle hostile environments, making them well suited for military applications ... we can see that infrared touch screen technologies, while being the most durable surfaces, are also quite possibly the most versatile”. Touch screens are used in aircraft, military equipment, machine controls, automobiles, appliances, cellphones, gaming consoles and in large format screens in school classrooms

IR touch technology has also been established for a long time in the classroom in another form where it is used for some makes of interactive whiteboard where it easily withstands the daily wear and tear of eager pupils.

At EdisAV we chose IR technology for our Touchscreen Multi for the classroom to take advantage of the versatile, well proven technology and established durability to hostile environments coupled with the indomitable LCD display featured in millions of TVs around the world