Have you ever wished that your phone had its own life-like skin which you could caress and squeeze in order to feel more connected to your device?
No, me neither. However, good lord it has happened, and you better believe you want to know why and how.
Chuck away your plastic phone cases, ’cause skin is in!
This frankensteinian phone-protector was designed by Marc Teyssier and his mad-scientist colleagues at Telecom Paris in France.
The skin cases pride themselves on feeling completely realistic.
You’re probably (justifiably) wondering, “But, why?”
Well, Teyssier told New Scientist, “I wanted to pinch my phone.”
The flesh not only looks and feels like skin, but it responds to touch and feel in the same way that human skin might when feeling certain emotions.
The skin can respond to a variety of gestures.
For instance, the phone skin can interpret a harsh grab of the phone as feelings of anger or tenseness, while a tapping sensation would convey a feeling of anticipation.
The skin is made of three layers. The surface layer is made of silicone, under which there is a stretched layer of copper wire, under which there is yet another layer of silicone.
Teyssier hopes these interfaces will allow more natural interaction with technology.
There are a variety of prototypes that Teyssier has made for a variety of purposes.
The “Skin-On Interface” project, as Teyssier calls it, is described as such on his website:
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“When we interact with others, we use skin as interfaces. However the objects of mediated communication — such as the smartphone — still has a cold interface that doesn’t allow natural interaction and input.
“In this project, I wanted to make available the perfect human interface that is the skin for existing devices.”
The company is looking to make the skin more realistic over time.
Yes, according to the New Scientist, the company hopes to increase the realistic nature of the skin itself, while including the possibilities of stubble or small hairs, and temperature changes in the flesh.
Teyssier recently presented his work at the User Interface Software and Technology Symposium in New Orleans.
While there is clearly an immense amount of technological work gone into this (creepiness aside) interesting invention, it is simply impossible to avoid the mind-bogglingly sordid things that this kind of technology will surely end up servicing.
Teyssier’s website shows that he seems to have a genuine interest in the philosophy of what it means to connect with our technology, something which is fascinating. However, how he must surely be aware of what a good portion of people looking at this will be thinking!
