I read the following article from the 2010 CHI conference:
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/cue/publications/harrisonskinputchi2010.pdf
It is entitled: Skinput: Appropriating the Body as an Input Surface. The article describes an input system for mobile devices that uses the skin as an input surface. The purported advantages of this system are that it is very compact/mobile, since the skin itself is always carried around anyway, and it allows for very intuitive use, since people have a natural spacial sense of their own body.
The system utilizes "bioacoustics". The user wears an armband on the upper arm containing an array of vibration sensors. When the user touches different parts of their arms, the sensors can detect, through vibrations in the skin and bones, where the user touched their fingers, hand, wrist, or arm. The researchers tested this input system by pairing it with projections on the arm in order to create keypads, scrolling menus, and other UI's.
I was surprised by the accuracy of the sensors in the system. The mobility, ease of use, and aesthetics of the Skinput system strike me as a natural next step in the progression of mobile technology.
I don't see this as the most practical technology. It would be really easy to accidentally press buttons. Also the user's BMI directly impacts the accuracy of the sensors, limiting the proficient users to skinnier people.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that I think is a flaw in this design is that the user can only interact with one arm at a time, since the other one is the "keyboard."
This is a cool device though and a proof of concept with this interesting technology.
not sure how practical this is but very interesting nonetheless
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