Smartwatch: New technology transforms the skin touch interface

The research project of Future Interfaces Group tries to overcome the limitations of interfaces for smartwatch transforming skin and arm in an input tool.

One of the limits of the current smartwatch is represented by means of interaction with the software platform, to a large extent coincide with the integrated tactile interface in a display, to force things, of small dimensions.

An interesting research project carried out by Future Interfaces Group, a group of researchers who work at the University of Carnegie Mellon, try to overcome these limitations with SkinTrack that turns the skin into a tactile interface to control the UI of the smartwatch.

The system is structured in a ring to be worn on the finger that continuously transmits AC signals at high frequency, and in a band connected to the smartwatch and equipped with a series of electrodes, which detect the phase differences.

When the finger wearing the ring is placed in contact with the skin, the high frequency electric signal passes through the arm, the band detects it and uses it to perform the triangulation of the position of the finger, transforming it into 2D coordinates sent to the interface the smartwatch. Researchers involved in the project will highlight in these terms the strengths:

The great thing about Skins Track is that it is not intrusive, watches and rings are objects that people already wearing every day.

The team of researchers has developed a prototype that shows in practice the SkinTrack operation.

The usage scenarios are many: you can scroll through a list of files and apps and run them, drag an app out of the screen, creating a link on the skin for the next reactivation (see. 3:10 min video), use the skin as a controller for games (the eloquent example of Angry Birds (3:14 min) or control a numeric keypad.

The capabilities are expanded further with the ability to Track Skins make continuous tracking of the position of the finger. This allows, for example, to draw gestures, or, in theory, to use his arm as if it were a drawing canvas or a notepad page.

The system appears to be sufficiently versatile: it is not necessary to direct contact between the finger and the skin, since SkinTrack can function even if the arm is covered by a garment.

It is not known at the time, if the technology developed by Future Interfaces Group will be integrated into a commercial product, but the subject matter touches a doubt worthy of attention theme, especially for companies that have the ambition to expand the functionality of current smartwatch.