Flexible, Stretchable and Visually Customizable On-Body Touch Sensors for Mobile Computing

We propose iSkin, a novel class of skin-worn sensors for
touch input on the body. iSkin is a very thin sensor overlay,
made of biocompatible materials, and is flexible and stretchable.
It can be produced in different shapes and sizes to suit
various locations of the body such as the finger, forearm, or
ear. Integrating capacitive and resistive touch sensing, the
sensor is capable of detecting touch input with two levels of
pressure, even when stretched by 30% or when bent with a
radius of 0.5 cm. Furthermore, iSkin supports single or multiple
touch areas of custom shape and arrangement, as well as
more complex widgets, such as sliders and click wheels. Recognizing
the social importance of skin, we show visual design
patterns to customize functional touch sensors and allow for
a visually aesthetic appearance. Taken together, these contributions
enable new types of on-body devices. This includes
finger-worn devices, extensions to conventional wearable devices,
and touch input stickers, all fostering direct, quick, and
discreet input for mobile computing.
The publication received a Best Paper Award at ACM CHI’15 (top 1% of submissions).
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