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"Skinput" Turns Your Body Into Your I/O

Posted by kdawson on from the unintended-consequences-abound dept.

kkleiner writes "Skinput is a system from Carnegie Mellon's Chris Harrison that monitors acoustic signals on your arm to translate gestures and taps into input commands. Just by touching different points on your arm, hand, or fingers you can tell your portable device to change volume, answer a call, or turn itself off. Even better, Harrison can couple Skinput with a pico projector so that you can see a graphic interface on your arm and use the acoustic signals to control it. The project is set to be presented at this year's SIGCHI conference in April, but you can check it out now in several video demonstrations."

12 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. Old News by camperdave · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is old news. I've been able to lower the volume of devices by sticking my fingers in my ears for ages now.

    --
    When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    1. Re:Old News by padrepio · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yes but with Skinput, I would use my wife's keyboard and dual display more often.

    2. Re:Old News by AliasMarlowe · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yes but with Skinput, I would use my wife's keyboard and dual display more often.

      And in return, she might use your joystick...

      --
      Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
  2. Signals coming in too fast. by Thyamine · · Score: 2, Funny

    Buffer overrun. You have submitted too many commands at one time. Please try again.

    "Honey, what are you doing in there?"

    "Uh, nothing. Just trying something out."

    --
    I will shred my adversaries. Pull their eyes out just enough to turn them towards their mewing, mutilated faces. Illyria
    1. Re:Signals coming in too fast. by svtdragon · · Score: 2, Funny

      I think they probably ought to exclude the "fap" acoustic signal. Otherwise it might spawn too many child processes.

  3. sounds awesome by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    so I bump my arm, crank up my mp3 player full blast and hang up on my boss all at once

    do you think you can make an attachment to kick me in the balls too?

  4. Awesome by copponex · · Score: 2, Interesting

    We can all be as cool as this guy.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiWMXTqS124

  5. New technology using tapping? by Skarecrow77 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Nobody can use any sort of touch interface but the iphone! Patent infringement lawsuit from Apple lawyers inbound in 3...2...1...

  6. Re:I don't know about that... by Hognoxious · · Score: 2, Funny

    My touchscreen phone frequently dials ex-girlfriends unintentionally when I leave it on the contacts page and put it in my pocket without turning the display off first.

    And that concludes the case for the defence, m'lud.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  7. Prior Art..... by SomeoneGotMyNick · · Score: 2, Informative

    That was already done by David Byrne in the Once in a Lifetime Video at 3:53.

  8. Re:I don't know about that... by frikazoyd · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The article notes that the accuracy of input origin is within 95%. So casual bumps shouldn't work, considering the input is in the inside of your arm. Hand input is trickier of course, but maybe you can set the sensitivity pretty low, so casual taps wouldn't work?

  9. Re:I don't know about that... by jimbolauski · · Score: 2, Funny

    You too mine only happens at 2am outside a bar I think its some sort of software bug.

    --
    Knowledge = Power
    P= W/t
    t=Money
    Money = Work/Knowledge so the less you know the more you make