This is freaky future stuff, where you're the interface. That's where electronics are heading, apparently. Researchers have developed a way for people to use their own skin as a keypad or pull down menu to control MP3 devices, make phone calls or play games.
It's called Skinput, and here's how it works: The user wears an armband, which contains a very small projector that projects a menu or keypad onto a person's hand or forearm. The armband also contains an acoustic sensor. Why? Because when you tap different parts of your body, it makes unique sounds based on the area's bone density, soft tissue, joints and other factors.
The software in Skinput is able to analyze the sound frequencies picked up by the acoustic sensor and then determine which button the user has just tapped.
Wireless Bluetooth technology then transmits the information to the device. So if you tapped out a phone number, the wireless technology would send that data to your phone to make the call.
The team is presenting their work at the upcoming Computer-Human Interface conference in April.
Tags: Computer Peripherals, Gadgets, Inventions, Wearable Computers, Wireless Computers
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