New technology sends information through human touch

The prototype is said to be the first technology that can send information through the direct touch of a fingertip, allowing the user’s body to act as a link between a payment card or smartphone and a reader or scanner.

While it can’t yet transfer money, researchers said that while wearing the prototype as a watch, a user’s body can be used to send information such as a photo or password when touching a sensor on a laptop. 

The study is published in the journal Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction and was led by Purdue alumnus Shovan Maity as a PhD student.

It describes how the technology works by establishing an ‘internet’ within the body that smartphones, smartwatches, pacemakers, insulin pumps and other wearable or implantable devices could send information. 

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