In the last few posts we have focused on science and looked at projects combining the biological and the digital world. Such projects often derive from a close observation of the world surrounding us. At times the most innovative ideas or the starting point to develop them, are indeed just in front of us. Take for example the Skin-On artificial interface.
Developed last year by researchers (Marc Teyssier, Gilles Bailly, Catherine Pelachaud, Eric Lecolinet, Andrew Conn and Anne Roudaut) at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Bristol in partnership with Telecomm ParisTech and Sorbonne University, Skin-On consists in a phone case, computer touch pad and smart watch strap with a natural skin-like consistency.
The multi-layer, silicone membranes forming the devices mimic indeed a material we are very familiar with - human skin - not only for what regards the appearance, but also for what regards the sensing aspect.
Thanks to embedded sensors, the artificial skin feels the various gestures made by the end-users - from grasping and tickling to caressing and pinching. In this way touch gestures can convey expressive messages for computer mediated communication.
Artificial skin in the robotic field is not unheard of, but Marc Teyssier, lead author of the research, highlights that this is something different as the Skin-On interfaces exploit artificial skin as a new input method for augmenting devices.
The team of researchers implemented indeed an app linked to the interface that expresses the tactile emotions received by the artificial skin: for example, the intensity of the touch controls the size of an emoji; a strong grip conveys anger, while tickling the skin generates a laughing emoji and tapping creates a surprised emoji.
Human skin is made of three layers - epidermis, dermis and hypodermis; the Skin-On has four layers - input gestures, visual and tactile, sensing (the most difficult part was developing the sensors that had to be stretchable and detectable), and kinesthetic.
The devices come in a hyperreal skin-like texture or in a salmon pink shade (Teyssier has been exploring different pigmentation including brown skin-tones) and, in future, researchers hope to make the skin even more realistic, including embedded hair and temperature features.
The researchers involved explain that the technology behind the project is pretty cheap as the components and materials it employs are all mass-produced, but, for the time being, Skin-On remains a prototype. And, while we don't know if one day it may be adopted for ordinary devices such as mobile phones, the interface could probably have more intriguing applications in other sectors. It could indeed be employed to interact with a virtual avatar and used for a wide variety of applications in the robotic and medical field (could it also help people suffering from anxiety finding some form of relief, maybe pinching and touching the skin and checking via an app their stress levels?).
Teyssier is very interested in experimenting with an anthropomorphic input and has launched previous projects looking at human-computer interaction including a robotic finger that could be applied to a smartphone.
Will this bio-driven approach be applicable in the fashion field one day? It is scary to think that in future designers may come up with sentient human skin bags, but it may not be long before we can pinch our phones to transmit our emotions with a simple gesture.
The project was featured in an essay entitled "Skin-On Interfaces: A Bio-Driven Approach for Artificial Skin Design to Cover Interactive Devices" published last year, and the prototypes were presented in 2019 at the 32nd Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology in New Orleans, US. The Skin-On project will also be part of the exhibition "Weird Sensation Feels Good" at ArkDes in Stockholm (8th April - 31st May).
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