A touch panel system includes micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) groups. Each group includes an emitter producing a beam, and a MEMS mirror located about a corner of a touch panel screen. The MEMS mirror reflects the beam to create a beam sweep across a touch panel surface. An array of photo sensors is located parallel to an edge of the touch panel screen to detect reflected beams from an object about the touch panel surface. Based on when the reflected beams are detected, the angular positions of the MEMS mirrors can be determined and correlated to the object's position.