Skin-Controlled Input Almost Makes iPhone Look Medieval

iPhones? Wii’s? Bet you think those are pretty fancy, right? Well, when it comes to sheer wow factor, those technologies have little on Skinput, which lets you control things by simply pressing different parts of your skin. Your skin!

The system, which was developed by researchers from Carnegie Mellon and Microsoft, turns the human body into an interface. But rather than using electrical impulses, which is how the iPhone and other touch screens work, it actually measures the movement of sound made by tapping different parts of the arm or hand.

But in addition to measuring acoustic waves, the armband used by the system can have a small projector that beams images onto the skin, creating buttons out of various parts of the body. Proposed uses for the system include controlling an MP3 player attached to the arm or to play a game projected onto it.

Of course, we bet you were expecting us to insert a crass joke here about pressing the right sort of buttons, weren’t you? Well, shame on you – get your mind out of the gutter!