Skinput: Touch-Sensitive Skin

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon and Microsoft have joined forces to create Skinput, a bio-acoustic sensing device that allows your skin to be used as a touch-screen interface. An armband is equipped with a projector to display a menu or phone keys, as well as an acoustic sensor that analyzes distinct sounds made on the surface of skin related to specific bone density, joints and tissue. That information is delivered through a Bluetooth device back to the phone to determine what button has been pressed.

Although this technology is not quite ready for mass consumption (the creators are presenting Skinput at the Computer-Human Interface Conference in April), it’s another step towards thinking in broader terms about device portability and the future of interface technology.

Here’s a video from the Skinput creators that explains the technology in greater detail:

[via PopSci]