Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are working on LED tattoos. These are flexible thin silicon electronic circuits on silk substrates that can make your skin a screen. The circuits are just about 1 millimeter long and 250 nanometers thick. The silk keeps them in place, molding to the shape of the skin when saline solution is added. Over time, the silk dissolves away inside the body, leaving just the electronics behind. These LED tattoos could be hooked up to any kind of electronic device (wanna watch TV on your arm? have a built-in GPS or PDA?), even to those inside the body, such as blood-sugar sensors or neurodevices. In fact, the possible uses seem almost endless… And you can switch is off whenever you wish.
In this Philips Design Probe, human body is explored as a platform for electronics and interactive skin technology. Stimulated by touch, an electronic tattoo traverses across the landscape of body, navigated by desire:
