Skinfoot is an innovative technology that allows you to interact with a computer using your skin as a touchscreen. It utilizes a part of your body as an input tool, opening up new possibilities for the future of computing combined with wearable devices.
In recent years, various forms of computer user interfaces have been developed that can be naturally carried anywhere and anytime. An interface is a device that connects a human user to a computer. One type of this, called skinput, literally uses the skin on your body as a touchscreen to enter information into a computer. A skinput device consists of a projector that allows a menu screen to appear on the palm or forearm, a vibration sensor that can detect the vibrations that occur when the user touches the skin with their fingers, and a connection that transmits the detected vibrations to the computer. When the screen is projected onto the forearm or palm of the user’s hand by the projector, the area of skin is touched, causing the skin to vibrate. Skinfoot uses these vibrations to detect the location of the skin you’ve touched and take in that information.
This technology is a radical departure from traditional interfaces because it utilizes human skin as an input tool. With Skinfoot, users no longer need to carry a separate device and can interact with their computer through a part of their body. In particular, this technology opens up the possibility of operating a computer with just your fingers, even in situations where your hands are not free. For example, you can use your forearm or palm to enter simple commands while driving or holding something with both hands.
This technology is possible because the transmission characteristics of vibrations change depending on the position of the finger as it presses against the skin. When a vibration sensor is attached to a certain location on the forearm and a skinfoot is performed, the magnitude, shape, and frequency of the vibration detected by the sensor varies depending on the location of the skin. This is due to the different positions and shapes of body components such as muscles and bones at each point, as well as the different distances between the sensor and the point where the finger is pressed.
Pressing your finger against the skin generates several different forms of vibration energy, some of which becomes sound and spreads through the air. The remaining vibrations are divided into transverse waves, which travel over the surface of the skin like waves, and longitudinal waves, which travel through the body, vibrating the bones and returning to the skin. The frequencies of the vibrations produced by these longitudinal and transverse waves are important clues for localization.
The amplitude of the transverse wave depends on the force with which the finger is pressed to generate the vibration, the strength of the skin area being pressed, and the ductility of the tissue. For the same pressing force, a faster pressing speed will generate more vibrations with a relatively higher frequency. Higher frequency vibrations are transmitted relatively faster and are more accurate. In addition, transverse waves travel farther because the thicker the flesh in the area of contact and the softer the skin, the greater the amplitude of the propagating vibration. Transverse waves tend to produce larger amplitude vibrations than longitudinal waves. Unlike transverse waves, which bounce around on the surface of the skin at high amplitudes, longitudinal waves travel through the skin and the soft tissues underneath to reach the bones. These longitudinal waves cause the bones to vibrate, and the vibrations are reflected back to the skin. Longitudinal waves have less strain than transverse waves and obey the laws of physics in solids. Longitudinal waves generate relatively higher frequencies than transverse waves. These frequencies are detected by vibration sensors, which are then converted into digital signals by a connectivity device and relayed to a computer.
Skinfoot is still in its early stages of development and only has a simple user interface. While it varies from person to person, and even within the same person, between the elbow and the fingers, it can identify the information you want to type with an average accuracy of 95%. That’s not quite enough to replace your current keyboard. But the reason this technology is so exciting is that user interfaces that utilize body parts could lead to computers that don’t require a monitor or keyboard.
It also opens up new possibilities for the future of computing. For example, when combined with smart clothing, users will be able to operate computers anytime, anywhere through sensors embedded in their clothing. This opens up the possibility of creating a more convenient and intuitive user experience in our daily lives by combining it with wearable devices that go beyond just inputting information.
