Nomination
DuoSkin is a fabrication process that enables anyone to create customized functional devices that can be attached directly on their skin. Using gold metal leaf, a material that is cheap, skin-friendly, and robust for everyday wear, we demonstrate three types of on-skin interfaces: sensing touch input, displaying output, and wireless communication. DuoSkin draws from the aesthetics found in metallic jewelry-like temporary tattoos to create on-skin devices which resemble jewelry. DuoSkin devices enable users to control their mobile devices, display information, and store information on their skin while serving as a statement of personal style. We believe that in the future, on-skin electronics will no longer be black-boxed and mystified; instead, they will converge towards the user friendliness, extensibility, and aesthetics of body decorations, forming a DuoSkin integrated to the extent that it has seemingly disappeared.
Credits
MIT Media Lab in collaboration with Microsoft Research
MIT Media Lab: Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao, Andres Calvo, Chris Schmandt
Microsoft Research: Asta Roseway, Christian Holz, Paul Johns
Photo: Jimmy Day
The MIT Media Lab is an interdisciplinary research laboratory at MIT devoted to projects at the convergence of technology, multimedia, sciences, art and design.
Microsoft Research is the research division of Microsoft. It focuses on advancing state-of-the-art computing and solves difficult world problems through technological innovation in collaboration with academic, government, and industry researchers.
DuoSkin is a collaboration between MIT Media Lab and Microsoft Reseach. The lead researchers, respectively from MIT and Microsoft, are Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao (TW) and Asta Roseway (US).