SkinTrack - Turn your arm into a touch surface for smart watches

The small touch screen makes it difficult to manipulate and watch content on smart watches.

Because of this limitation, researchers at the Human and Machine Interaction Solutions Development Department at Carnegie Mellon University have devised a way to turn our arms into a part of the SkinTrack user interface. .

For many years, Carnegie Mellon University has proposed many new ideas to interact with small screen devices such as smart watches such as tilting or shaking the bezel to adjust the clock such as a built-in rotary knob. projectors into pink copper to emit virtual buttons on the skin (Skin Buttons) or latest skin touch technology (SkinTrack).

Carnegie Mellon University's approach works very differently. Instead of using cameras, the researchers developed a ring that emits alternating, high-frequency electrical signals on the finger. When the finger touches the skin or floats on the arm, the signal will spread to the skin and be received by an integrated bracelet with electrodes. By measuring the phase change of the signal (comparing the time the oscillator signal is transmitted to 2 electrode pairs), SkinTrack can determine the position of the finger with very high accuracy.

Accuracy can reach 99% even if we wear long-sleeved shirts.

In the video, the team demonstrated SkinTrack's control and application features. We can perform swiping to turn songs, select songs, drag birds to Angry Birds or create application shortcuts . with very high accuracy.Accuracy can reach 99% even if we wear long-sleeved shirts. However, this system is still not perfect because it does not integrate the presentation unit, so we cannot know what is touching on the clock interface.

The study co-author Gierad Laput said SkinTrack is a product derived from his previous research to exploit other areas, such as the human body, to improve the experience of using devices. electronic. For Laput, the body is merely a platform of input and feel. Laput's vision revolves around two ideas: using arms as an input device and using the body to enhance other activities.

Until now, SkinTrack is not ready to appear as a consumer device. This system needs to be calibrated for each user because the body's electrical current is not the same. Laput said the system would work better if it could show the graphical interface and give users visual feedback but would lose more in the year. In addition, the team is also considering the possibility of electrical signals affecting things like pacemakers.