This Phone Case With Artificial Human Skin May Terrify You

Phone cases with artificial human skin on the outside might enable a wider array of new gesture controls, but when you see how they look, you will be creeped out.

The technology is called Skin-On Interface by Telecom ParisTech’s Marc Teyssier. The project is a joint effort of CNRS, HCI Sorbonne Université, and Telecom ParisTech. The idea starts from when Teyssier suddenly had a desire to be able to pinch his own phone.

The team created two versions, one looks just like real human skin, the other is simpler. And since the skin is what enables people to physically interact with each other, he thought he could replace the cold interface of a phone with something similar.

The layer of artificial human skin can translate different gestures including pinching, tickling, and poking into emotions. Take a tap, for example, it might mean the users are seeking the phone’s attention, or a firm grip may indicate that he or she is angry. The case’s basic structure consists of a layer of copper wire sandwiched in between hypodermis and epidermis silicon. The pressure users apply on the artificial human skin will change the electrical charge.

One of the challenges Teyssier faces is to create something that can stretch as well as be able to detect touches.

Teyssier said that he did not exactly have an application in mind, just like when he made the MobiLimb, a kind of robotic finger that you can attach to smartphones to allow them to crawl.

The Skin-On Interface has also been demonstrated on a smartwatch wristband and a computer touchpad. What the team is working on now is to make the artificial skin feels even more realistic, with hair, sweat, and goosebumps to make touching the skin more comfortable, or terrifying depends on how you see the whole idea.