Animator envisions sub-dermal displays

Note to Hart and Huntington tattoo shop: you guys so need to hook up with Gina Miller, a designer and animator who is looking to make your business totally obsolete. Obviously seeing a bright future in implanted devices, Seattle-based Miller, with help from nanotech author Robert A. Freitas Jr., has finished her concept-animation project that envisions a dermal display system consisting of billions of nanobots that can self-assemble and emit photons to form text and graphics directly on the skin. While user-changeable tattoos are the most obvious implementation of this technology, Freitas proposes the more "practical" deployment of using pixelbots to display info gathered from the army of healthbots that will one day run amok in our bloodstreams. The futuristic system also promises to be touch sensitive, allowing you to send a message back to your nano-friends telling them to get the hell out of your prostate.

[Via Medgadget]

[Nick @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

Now I won't have to worry about regretting that "VAN HALEN RULES" tattoo I've been planning on getting.

[Gleb Serbin @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

why? and what about when you age and get all wrinkly? will doom3 graphics turn into old sailor tattoo quality video? or do you have to get your skin pulled tight every 5 years? i guess it can be useful for emergency purposes but i cant see many other uses. seems easier to just carry something in your pocket. plus, it would make cheating on tests WAAAY too easy. if our generations had to struggle and study then so will my kids!

[uclatommy @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

How do I level up my stats?

[Marc Charles @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

I wonder how they plan for this to work on people that aren't transparent.

[NekoTsukimi @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

I just invision a BSOD on my hand looking at that...

[Shane @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

this is a complete rip off of a design that won a popular science/core 77 contest last year. the graphics even look like they were just lifted and overlayed with new elements.

but with all the designs out there I bet half of my work is being mirrored by others without any knowledge on either end.

[fabio @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

hey guys, look at this hi-res pic
http://www.nanogirl.com/museumfuture/images/dermal.jpg

in the middle of the top:
"Lifetime Orgsm Count: 1375" isnt this cool ? :D

it counts how many orgasms you already had.

that means ;) no more cheating for womens.

[x24 @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

I wonder when will it be featured in It Plays Doom.

[ss4vegito7 @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

pretty damn cool

[JC @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

Shane, I don't think this looks anything like that PopSci.Core77 winner:
http://www.core77.com/challenge/memory/pages/Tattoo_display_facial_final.htm

http://www.core77.com/challenge/memory/

[Sean @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

Uh, how do they get black pixels from "photon emmiting nanobots"?

[Edward Zieba @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

I've toyed with the idea of geting a tattoo with the ink replaced with fleshtone/black E-ink. Use a magnetic grid to change it to whatever you want, and carry a small magnet of a cartain polarity to 'wipe off' the tattoo when needed. Only hurdle is that a) I don't know if the particles themselves are toxic or not (buckyballs are, though I think the E-ink particles are a few orders of magnitude larger) and b) getting hold of some of the E-ink in it's raw form.

[Simon @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

Why use nanobots for the display, static particles will do, either emiting light or absorbing it. Also I'ld want to have that display on my forearm, not on my hand. First of there is much more space, but most importantly the skin is much more even there.

And while we are at envisioning things why focus on medical use, much more widespread use would be to play Freecell, or, as already pointed out, Doom ;)
Actually, when envisioning something that big, she should have put more thought into a generic OS interface rather than any particular application. Cause the interface I spot there looks like 20 years in the past, not in the future.

[Brad @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

Kinda gives "Palm Pilot" a whole new meaning...

[Google Nazi @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

Static particles wouldn't work because our body emits an energy field though I'm not sure if it would effect it any but it might?

Doom port would rock but talk about a true palm pilot right? :D I want to use a calculator on there and contact list including wireless phone. mwahhaha! ILLEGAL OPERATioN! YOUR BODY WILL NOW SHUT DOWN

[Hiro11 @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

Looks like someone read "The Diamond Age" by Neil Stephenson. Welcome to 1997.

[callmehr @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

who needs this when you can get your visual implants to project and follow an image where ever it moves within your range of sight. i'm sure thatll be available before this will. i mean if we're speculating on the future and all.

[MrFloppy @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

Weird, but cool :s

[granny down east @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

NO! I don't want my blood alcohol count displayed on my forearm- or hand- or whatever.

I call Big Brother.
Granny

[Sam @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

I would be happy with a digital watch tattoo, normal watches chaffe my skin. Diabetics would like an insulin -level tat. I wonder how an alarm would be built in.

[cyberfrog @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

HAHAHAHA! Imagine all the rampant cheating in school.

[Samuel Lago @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

Over my dead body. Prince Charles won't like this one bit

[Mike Lorrey @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

Hey, so long as I can hack my PalmOS to display a blood alcohol that is half of the real value, I'll be happy.

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

FYI - Philippe Starck thought of this idea about 6 years ago....

[nate hitchcock @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

that would suck if your body got hacked :-P

[vettefreak90 @ Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM]

Do you think that if you get paralyzed you could press ctl alt delete to reboot?