Forget the iPad. The human body itself is the latest user interface.
Forget the iPad. The human body itself is the latest user interface.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, along with Microsoft’s research lab, have come up with a way to use the skin of your hand or arm to act as a control panel for your phone or MP3 player, called Skinput.
But you won’t have to be transformed into a cyborg in order to use this technology. Rather than requiring computer implants, it simply involves wearing a tiny projector as an armband, which beams the image onto your skin. An acoustic detector, also in the armband, then calculates which part of the display you want to activate when you touch certain areas of your skin.
Tapping on various parts of your arm creates different kinds of vibrations depending on the number and shape of bones, tendons and muscle in that specific area; the sensors then detect which sound represents the “button” you are pressing on the interface. Coupled with wireless Bluetooth technology, it then transmits commands to your phone, iPod or computer.
According to trials, it takes around 20 minutes to master this system, with the sensors and software displaying a 95 per cent accuracy for a five-location display. Accuracy drops when ten or more locations are used, but this creates more functions for the user, such as being able to send a predictive text message.
No date has yet been set for when this technology may become a commercial reality, but in the future, instead of rummaging to find your phone in your bag, it could be your arm that you’ll be reaching for instead.
