Electronic Tattoo Makes Your Skin Smarter

Engineers at Illinois University have developed an electronic device platform that integrates with your skin and measures various parameters for medical diagnosis, sensing, communications and for human-machine interfaces. Engineers were successful in mounting all the necessary electronics required on a super-thin, skin-like patch which can be placed on the skin just like a tattoo. What's more is that the whole patch stretches and blends well with the skin comfortably.

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Skin Electronics: Photo courtesy John Rogers

The engineering team led by Prof. John A. Rogers described their invention in the journal 'Science'. The circuit bends, wrinkles and stretches with the mechanics of skin. The engineers demonstrated their concept by integrating sensors, transistors, LEDs, RF capacitors, antennas and conductive coils on a rubbery substrate. The electronic patch is first mounted on water soluble plastic and then transferred to a skin. The researchers think of this invention as an advancement in wearable electronics - something that is unnoticeable to the wearer. The technology has potential to connect humans to the physical and virtual world naturally and comfortably.

Via: Home | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign