Make your arm as a phone with Microsoft’s skinput technology
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft have produced Skinput, an experimental device that turns the body’s largest organ into a touch screen. Here in this your skin serves as an interactive surface.
CMU’s Chris Harrison and colleagues at Microsoft rigged up an acoustic bio-sensor to detect sound patterns created when tapping a forearm or palm. Each area has a specific acoustic signature that can be associated with functions like dialing a phone. Pinching and flicking gestures can also be used for commands.
The prototype is an armband that users wear. It features an elbow brace with sensors that can register the movement caused by each finger, and react to the movements. It then identifies the acoustic resonance of each movement and stores it. A camera then projects the more complex menus onto the other forearm, and the user taps on the display, which vibrates to the sensors to accept the command. The system takes a few moments to distinguish the sound, and vibrations of the individual user, and then it is ready to go.
