SkinTrack turns your skin into a touch screen for your smartwatch [VIDEO]
Smartwatches are a very new technology in our lives. We’re still trying to figure out the best way to use them. One of the biggest issues is navigating through a UI on such a tiny display. There’s not a lot of room for swiping around like on a phone. A research group at Carnegie Mellon University may have a solution.
It’s called “SkinTrack,” and it uses your skin as an extended display for your smartwatch. It works with a signal-emitting ring on your finger and four electrodes in the watchband. When your finger makes contact with your watch-wearing arm, the electrodes detect the distance away from the watch. It can detect simple taps and swipes, but also continuous drawing. The example used in the video is pulling the Angry Birds slingshot back on your arm.
One of the really interesting uses is shortcuts on your body. You can drag apps off the watch screen and pin them to yourself. For example, you could literally put Google in the palm of your hand. It’s also possible to draw letters on your hand to open up apps. “N” for news, for example. This is just a prototype right now, but it’s a great example of how we could interact with smartwatches in the future.
Is this something you would use on your smartwatch? Would you wear a ring on your finger every day so you could interact with your watch by touching your arm?
[via The Verge]