Smart Skin circuit (images courtesy of John Rogers and UIUC)
Temporary tattoo are always fun, the staple of any amusement park, and now the inspiration for a leap in medical technology. With the idea, Materials Science and Engineering Professor John A. Rogers, of the University of Chicago in Urbana Champaign, along with a team of multidiscipline collaborators, have created a flexible circuit that can be applied to the skin like temp-tattoo. The circuit stretches, bends, wrinkles with no issue. Talking about the design process with the diverse group of researchers, Roger's said, "We threw everything in our bag of tricks onto that platform, and then added a few other new ideas on top of those, to show that we could make it work... the skin is extremely soft, by comparison, and its surface can be rough, with significant microscopic texture. These features demanded different kinds of approaches and design principles.”
The patch tattoo, dubbed Smart Skin, is a circuit sandwiched between a layer of rubber and a water soluble sheet of plastic totalling 40 micrometers. When the patch is applied to the skin, the user rubs water on it to dissolve the sheet of plastic, affixing it to the skin. "Just like a temporary tattoo." In fact, another layer can be added that is actually a temporary tattoo. This is to placate the vain, who think exposed circuits on the skin are ugly.
Rogers stated that the types of components that can be applied to the rubber substrate are: LEDs, sensors, transistors, RF components and antennas, conductive coils and solar cells. (I would assume that thin lithium batteries could also be part of the mix). Applications vary as wide as the components allow. The direct contact of the patch is working well for EEG and EMG sensing. The patch is more comfortable than many alternatives, said the team.
At the moment, all data from the circuit has to be collected through direct contact. A wireless (WiFi) version of the patch is on its way. The team also stated that the patch may lead to a better human-machine interface in the near future. And they found that when the circuit is applied to the user's throat, the sensors could detect muscle movement during speech.
Sometimes new concepts and devices can not get to the market fast enough. This is one of those cases.
Cabe
(via AFP, youtube)
