Let’s say the Borg decided to assimilate Earth—again! Get a life, Borg!—but it just so happened that they landed their big cube right next to Coachella. If they wanted to fit in, they’d need, aside from jute Panama hats that look ah-maze-ing in Tinder profile pictures, some subtle yet trendy tools to stay connected electronically… like these new DuoSkin tattoos that can work as anything from touchpads to graphical readouts to communications devices.
They’re no good for mind control, though. Yet.
All kidding aside, the DuoSkin tattoos, which were recently covered by the Tech Times and are the product of a joint endeavor between MIT’s Media Lab and Microsoft Research, are some seriously cool gadgets (check out more images of them in the image gallery below), and likely to become the future of temporary tattoos. As Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao, the MIT Media Lab PhD student featured in the above video, says, “In the future, when you walk into a tattoo parlor, you would come out with a tattoo like this. They will not only be very sophisticated technically, but they will become an extension of yourself.”
Right now, the tattoos are available with three distinctive functions: as input devices, output devices, or communications devices. This means that you can use them as trackpads or music controllers or displays of your skin temperature or as NFC tags (the video even shows one tattoo being used as a movie ticket.)
The DuoSkin tattoos are by no means alone in the tech-on-skin field however, with plenty of company from devices like wearable circuit boards that can give biometric readouts, sweat-powered e-tattoos, and even arc reactors that are (really) implanted underneath your skin. DuoSkin appears to have the lead in regards to trend factor, however, as evidenced by their awesome designs, heavy use of gold leaf, and the possibility of LED integration. No doubt the Collective will go crazy for them. The Collective meaning music festival goers, of course.
What do you think about these electronic temporary tattoos? Are you ready to slap these bad boys on your skin, or are you wary of being assimilated? Resistance to the comments section below is futile!
Images: DuoSkin/MIT Media Lab
