Human Skin Becomes the Ultimate Portable Touchscreen

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
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Human Skin Becomes the Ultimate Portable Touchscreen


Everything from iPods to virtually projected videogames could someday be controlled by an interface displayed on the human arm.

Researchers from Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University are working on what is currently called "Skinput," a new type of interface that works simply by tapping somewhere on the human body. For now, the technology is focused on the arm, and as demonstrated, Skinput can be used for many different kinds of tasks in various ways.

The basic idea behind Skinput is to counteract the constantly shrinking mobile devices we use that would benefit from a larger control surface. The human body has around two square meters of external surface area, so why not take advantage of it? Seeing as we own that surface, much of it can be activated through Skinput often without even having to look.

Skinput uses "bio-acoustic sensing technology" that works by detecting impacts on the skin. To understand it fully, it's really best to watch the explanation in the video. Aside from it being cool from a technology point of view, it has implications for gaming, as demonstrated by the playing of Tetris by tapping on different fingers to rotate, move, or drop blocks. This doesn't seem like the best way to play Tetris by any means, but it's a good demonstration of the possibility for a different kind of portable gaming. As for non-gaming uses, the armband used to detect taps on the skin can also project images on the arm, allowing the user to scroll through large menus easily, like the ones used with an iPod or a cellphone.

Skinput reminds me of the kind of tech used by **slight spoiler alert for Heavy Rain** FBI investigator Norman Jayden in Heavy Rain. At one point in the game, his special glasses and glove allow him to play a holographic ball-bouncing game to pass the time as those around him wonder what he's doing. With Skinput, and other similar technologies, I think we could see something very much like that in real life someday.

More information on Skinput can be found here [http://www.chrisharrison.net/projects/skinput/]

(Via: PCWorld [http://www.pcworld.com/article/190744/skinput_transforms_your_body_into_a_touchsensitive_input_device.html])


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Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
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Yeah...that sounds like it would be uber expensive...lol

Although! If it would work iamgine how portable it would be!
 

watshisname08

You know my name...
Mar 18, 2009
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Freebird. said:
I believe the words, "holy shit, that's awesome!" are appropriate here.

Well, it looks like we're finally getting the future we thought we were going to have. Next step, jet-packs.
And after those Jet Packs...Flying Cars!

I swear Carnegie Mellon University is just an awesome place. First we get the guy uses Wiimotes for various things (like digitial whiteboards) and now this... Just awesome!
 

microhive

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Mar 27, 2009
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Pretty much similar to this tech. This one is built using cheap and easily available hardware.

http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html

Not sure how cheap or expensive that thing is.
 

Fayathon

Professional Lurker
Nov 18, 2009
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redmarine said:
Pretty much similar to this tech. This one is built using cheap and easily available hardware.

http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html
Ninja'd, though I think that Sixth Sense has more applications that it can perform over this new tech, I'd be interested to see the two merging together to create something greater.
 

Heart of Darkness

The final days of His Trolliness
Jul 1, 2009
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That's really cool.

In other news, users report the emergence of many fingertip-shaped bruises appearing over the forearm and palm. Doctors have yet to determine the cause of this phenomenon.
 

Higurashi

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Jan 23, 2008
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Pretty neat. Reminds me of Minority Report and any other media where a graphical interface responds to physical stimuli. Now, so far I couldn't see myself using this and finding it more practical than a tiny screen on, say, my phone or mp3-player, but it definitely shows potential.
It'll be interesting to see how this technology develops in conjunction with tactile enhancement. It could get pretty useful in educational environments, for instance.
 

Danny Ocean

Master Archivist
Jun 28, 2008
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Kollega said:
AndyFromMonday said:
Can anyone say, omni tool?
I can. And it's awesome. We'll probably have a space elevator by the time i turn 30.
I hope so. I really hate to think I'll be missing out on great advances due a petty thing like death. This stuff is just so cool!
 

dekkarax

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Apr 3, 2008
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Oh, I thought it involved a horrifying cybernetic arm that can crush a man's skull.

:(
 

d3structor

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Jul 28, 2009
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If it uses the wave created by tapping on your skin I don't think this will ever be responsive enough to be a lasting technology. It's a good starting point though.
 

Koganesaga

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Feb 11, 2010
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Heart of Darkness said:
That's really cool.

In other news, users report the emergence of many fingertip-shaped bruises appearing over the forearm and palm. Doctors have yet to determine the cause of this phenomenon.
That's basically the one downside to this, as personally, I despise touching the veins on my arms, it feel so freaky. Though I would love for this to lead towards something like "Gamer" where it could record the bio-acoustic output of your motions and project it directly into a virtual (instead of real) person, so basically we could actually fight each other with all our might and nobody would end up dead (I dream of not having to hold back, soooo much fun).