No one can deny that wearable technology is the future. Wearable technology such as Fitbit, Nike’s FuelBand, and Apple Watch, have created a multibillion dollar industry that continues to grow and grow. Now Chaotic Moon Studios, a Texas based software design firm, has recently unveiled their tech tattoos. An upgrade to wearable technology and the temporary tattoos we sported when we were kids, these tattoos are a wearable circuit embedded in electro-conductive paint. They can monitor activity, authorize payments, store important information, and even control other electronic devices via Bluetooth technology. Universities across the country, including The Ohio State University, have all begun research in wearable technology, from tech tattoos to e-textile technology. Tech tattoos are lightweight, cost effective, and allow a plethora of aesthetic choices to make a customer look and feel downright awesome. These circuits can store credit card information and by making a gesture, authorize a purchase. Instead of going to your doctor once a year for a physical, these devices can monitor all types of important health stats and transfer this information directly to your doctor. At the University of California, San Diego electrical and computing engineer Patrick Mercier, and nanoengineer Joseph Wang, are working on other applications for tech tattoos and wearable circuits like alcohol monitoring, which can track alcohol concentration in the blood and send the information via Bluetooth to a smartphone. MIT Media Lab has partnered with Microsoft Research to create DuoSkin, a metallic tattoo that uses conductive fabric tape and imitation gold leaf. LED’s can be added for more pizazz and thermochromic paint can allow for heat-activated, color changing, allowing for an endless number of aesthetic choices to integrate into your style, and portray identity. The best part is that this prototype costs $1.50 per unit, making the technology extremely affordable to produce.
The Ohio State University has recently enjoyed a major breakthrough in wearable technology as well, specifically in the field of e-textiles. John Volakis and Asimina Kiourti have been refining this technology at the ElectroScience Laboratory at OSU in Columbus. They have created a silver-coated polymer thread made of copper and pure silver that is 0.1 millimeter thick, made with seven filaments twisted into a single strand. This thin polymer is a major improvement on existing technology; it is thinner and 24 times more cost effective. The polymer can be woven into fabric using a tabletop sewing machine to embroider intricate circuit boards. Volakis and Kiourti can embroider shapes and designs with a high level of precision, including a series interlocking geometric shapes to create a broadband antenna that costs only 30 cents in materials. This embroidered clothing could be used to improve cell phone reception, or boost Internet connectivity, and the OSU team has also created prototypes for the technology’s industrial applications. They also hope it will someday have applications in the medical industry like sensor implants or diagnostic tools.
So, should we prepare to say goodbye to Fitbit and even the Apple Watch? Wearable technology integrated into our clothes, and onto our skin, will soon be able to perform all of the functions these expensive and bulky technologies can, while allowing for more individuality and design options. The applications for tech tattoos are endless, and John Volakis and Asimina Kiourti’s e-textiles are opening a new frontier in more cost effective wearable technology that will lead to incredible avenues. Who knows, we might be wearing our Buck ID on our skin someday soon in the form of a Block O temporary tattoo. Regardless of your feelings on wearable technology, love it or hate it, wearable technology doesn’t appear to be going anywhere soon.
MIT Media Lab and Microsoft Research’s DuoSkin. Photo: © duoskin.media.mit.edu
Chaotic Moon Studios’ Tech Tattoo. Photo: Chaotic Moon Studios
I think that the article is very good. I like the idea of wearable technology. I was wondering if maybe you could find out when this became a thing? Was it recent or not? Where could I buy these if I want to? What are some opinions of on the technology? Do students think it is good idea or a bad idea?