This Patch Turns Your Skin into a Multi-Touch Controller

Led by Professor Jürgen Steimle, researchers at Saarland University in Germany have developed what they’re calling “Multi-Touch Skin,” a thin and flexible sensor for on-skin input.

To make this artificial skin, the electronic structure is printed onto plastic, integrating stacked layers of electrodes in rows and columns. When touched, the surface can pick up on changes in capacitance at the grids intersections, similar to how smartphones work. While wearable interfaces have been done before, the revolutionary aspect of this system is that it is able to detect multiple fingers simultaneously for more involved interactions.

The system in its current form is based on a battery-powered Raspberry Pi Zero and Microchip MTCH6303 capacitive touch controller, and can interface with separate electronic devices such as a smartphone. Applications so far include a bracelet that can change a lamp’s color, a surface attached behind the ear that adjusts the volume and track selection of the music playing, a forearm patch that sends a text message when squeezed, and a palm-mounted sticker that can accept or reject calls.

You can delve deeper into the specifics of the project in the team’s paper here.