Skinput: Using Your Body As an Input Device

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The world of mobile and wearable technology has evolved rapidly over the past decade. Today, there are all kinds of small devices which one can wear and there is no dearth of features that these small gadgets offer. From measuring heart rates to tracking routes, from assessing the degree of stress to diagnosing posture at all times of activity and inactivity, mobile wearable devices have certainly become worthwhile. However, there is still a problem that these gadgets have not been able to overcome.

The problem is more of a challenge which is that of space. No matter which wearable device or miniature gadget you consider, there is a space crunch. The buttons are too tiny, the screens are not large enough and the interaction interfaces are small. A normal adult finds it extremely difficult to use such buttons, screens or interactive features. The interface has to be larger, at least the input surface. There are mobile devices that can convert the surface on which it is placed into an input device. There is a technology known as Scratch Input that can transform a table upon which the device using that technology is placed into an input device. There are various kinds of materials which can be used as the surface for input. However, one doesn’t have a table outdoors or while on the move. One also doesn’t find it viable to carry an input surface along at all times. Instead of all that, one would prefer to use a larger smart phone or tablet, just to make things simpler.

But the space crunch of challenge of interacting with the device can be easily overcome if the input surface is our own body. That is what Skinput is advocating. Using the skin on our body that covers more than two square meters in area can offer a large interactive interface. While displays on the skin have been tried, and so have inputs in science fiction movies, they are yet to become mainstream technology.

If the skin is used as an input surface then not only does the small devices get a large area for the user to interact with but there are some other advantages as well. Humans are very well aware of the 3D existence of the body. We can actually feel or know without visual assistance of the movements or motions we do on our body. We can tell what is being written or what gestures are being done without even sparing a thought and certainly without looking at the area. Such an interaction would become even simpler and make devices more desirable. Skinput is certainly a viable alternative to existing tech.

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