Smart tattoo that can remotely control smartphone

A group of Ph.D. students from the MIT Media Lab and researchers from Microsoft Research have come up with a temporary tattoo with which you can control your smatphone. The wearable can turn into a touchpad to remotely control your smartphone, or share data using NFC (Near Field Communication).

The technology is called DuoSkin and according to the researchers, you can design a circuit using any graphic software, stamp out the tattoo in gold leaf (which is conductive to electricity) and then apply other commodity materials and components that would make the tattoo interactive.

According to the researchers, one can use the tattoo to turn skin into a trackpad, design it to change colour based on temperature or pull data from the tattoo. This tattoo can simply be applied like a regular temporary tattoo by sticking it on your skin, applying a damp cloth, peeling off the tattoo paper and eventually, removing it. The paper was published on MIT's website and will be presented in full at a wearables symposium next month.