GemiN’ I: Seamless Skin Interfaces Aiding Communication through Unconscious Behaviors
Shuyi Sun, Neha S. Deshmukh, Xin Chen, Hao‐Chuan Wang, Katia Canepa Vega · 2021
Voice command is the primary way of interacting with smart home devices and virtual assistants. However, being vocal is not always feasible or appropriate. This project aims to explore the potential of on-skin interfaces in social settings by discreetly communicating to a smart home device when enacting nearly unconscious behaviors. GemiN’I is a Beauty Technology that aesthetically and inconspicuously embeds sensors in face jewels to detect facial muscle movements, which then signals smart home devices without vocal commands, allowing the user and observers to interact without vocal interrupts. Our design rationale consists on: a) the form factor of a commercially available product for face decoration such as facial gems, b) novel discrete interfaces by making the technology invisible(circuits hidden within the gems), and the interaction by triggering devices when enacting unconscious behaviors (frowning), and c) seamlessly triggering a device in presence of an observer.