Skip to content

Temporary tattoo turns our skin into a trackpad

 

MIT Media Lab, in partnership with Microsoft Research, has unveiled DuoSkin, temporary tattoos that work as interfaces connecting wearers to mobile phones and other devices. Researchers were inspired by fashion. Temporary metallic tattoos have become the latest craze amid the body ornaments lovers. The DuoSkin tattoos are made of gold leaf material. It is affordable, easy on the skin, and — crucially — has basic conductivity. It works in a variety of ways. As an input interface, the tattoos turn the wearer’s skin into a trackpad to control mobile devices or computers. As a communication interface, the tattoos can be used to transfer data between devices. There is no need to be a tattoo lover either. They look rather like bracelets in geometric patterns in silver and gold tonalities. Not for nothing these invention purports to be a fashion statement, too.