An Artificial Human Skin Interface is as Disturbing as it Sounds

“You know what? – I really wish I could interact with my smartphone or laptop using artificial human skin” said no one ever. Well, with the possible exception of Jeffrey Dahmer. In his case, however, he’d have probably preferred the real thing.

Following the release of a video, however, French designer Marc Teyssier has revealed his artificial human skin technology. A technology that can work with various devices and (despite the somewhat disturbing nature of how this sounds) actually provides an impressive level of functionality and control.

If you dare, you can check out the video below to learn more!

Skin-On Interface – Disturbing, but Fascinating! (Our tag line, not theirs)

Based on the video above, this clearly isn’t something you can simply stick onto your phone as you would a case. It actually requires rather a lot of ‘wiring-up’ to work.

When in place, however, despite the disturbing nature of the design, it provides a remarkably detailed level of performance. An interaction that not only can move a cursor but can also control various performance factors of the device including volume, screen brightness and much more.

The official website cites the following key points of the product:

• From a sensory point of view, I study how to reproduce the visual, tactile and kinesthetic aspects of the human skin. I used the silicone to mimic the skin deformability with reference to relevant literature. I investigate how visual factors (color) and haptic factors (texture and thickness) impact user experience and the perception of realism.
• From a gestural point of view. I explore how gestures naturally performed on the skin can be transposed to Skin-On interfaces. I use this knowledge to propose a series of gestures that are desirable for Skin-on interfaces (e.g. multitouch touch, pressure and complex gestures such as strokes, stretching or grabbing).
• From a sensing point of view, I try to reproduce a skin sensing layer that can track natural gestures with a spatial acuity comparable to human skin.

What Do We Think?

We suspect that this has formally been announced in a bid to attempt to get more funding for the design and research of this technology. Admittedly, as disturbing as it sounds, you can’t help but feel that this could have some practical applications. Exactly what they are though, we don’t know. We’re pretty sure though that Skynet may have started with something like this…

If you do, however, want to learn more, you can check out the official website via the link here!

What do you think? Are you impressed with this design? What practical applications do you think this could have? – Let us know in the comments!