Chris Harrison has developed an answer to the problem of ever shrinking technology. Instead of products getting smaller, we turn our skin into touchpads.
"Computers are incredibly fast and super small," explains Harrison, a third year doctorate student in
Carnegie Mellon's Human-Computer Interaction Institute. "The bottleneck is the human computer interface. How do we make us faster?"
Harrison and two colleagues, Desney Tan and Dan Morris of Microsoft Research, have developed
Skinput, a combination of bio-acoustic sensors and machine learning software that allows people to use the body--or a tabletop or wall for that matter--as a touchpad to control smart phones and other mobile devices.
"It's a wild idea," says Harrison, whose been working with Microsoft for the past year to develop the prototype.
The system has two parts: A small projector in the armband superimposes graphics onto the skin, such as your hand. Specialized vibration sensors in the armband, which work like microphones, pick up vibrations that ripple gently through your body as you tap on the touchscreen (you!) with remarkable accuracy.
Smaller technology and larger touchscreens offer greater user mobility. Think of dialing a number on your phone or checking your playlist on your iPod while you jog.
The next step is to miniaturize the device, perhaps making it the size of a wristwatch. "It's a funky solution to a problem we're running up against with smaller devices becoming hard to use. By stealing surfaces, you get the best of both worlds."
A rising entrepreneurial star, Harrison launched Invynt LLC last year with "Lean and Zoom," a technology that magnifies images on a computer monitor as the user leans toward the screen. He will present a paper on Skinput this month to the Association for Computing Machinery's annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Atlanta, Ga.
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Writer:
Deb SmitSource: Chris Harrison, Carnegie Mellon's Human-Computer Interaction Institute
Chris Harrison demonstrates Skinput, image courtesy of Carnegie Mellon