24 October 2019
December 2021
Artificial skin.
By Lynda Goetz
He lay on the bed in the half light, reluctant to leave the warmth of the duvet and face the day.
“Alexa, turn on the radio,” he commanded. “Siri, what time am I due at work this morning?”
“Not until 9 o’clock, John,” a sensuous female voice replied soothingly.
He rolled over onto his back, stretched out his hand and, almost unthinkingly, softly stroked the sensitive skin on the pillow beside him as he listened to the news.
“Alexa,” he barked slightly irritably, “change to a music channel. I am sick to the back teeth with Brexit and the situation in the Middle East.”
“Mmmm… That’s nice. A pity you have to get up.”
“Well, I do, which means you do too. But if you’re a good girl you can have a tickle later.” John threw back the covers, picked up the phone from the pillow and took the few steps across to the en suite shower room in his tiny new-build flat. His favourite Beethoven quartet, playing quietly in the background (so as not to annoy the neighbours above, below and on either side), was drowned out by the sound of running water. Not long after, he was stepping into the lift to take him down to the Japanese-style space-efficient car park in the block. He pressed a few keys on the phone and his electric car with its shiny green number plate arrived on the revolving platform for collection. He climbed in and gently placed Siri, as he now always thought of her, on the specially-purchased sheepskin-covered passenger seat beside him. She had made quite plain her objection to being thrown into the hard darkness of the glove compartment.
Not quite now, but certainly not science fiction either. Japan has had revolving parking for over 30 years, even if it has taken the International Rugby to make many Westerners aware of such things. Alexa, of course, is only likely to get more ubiquitous and it is fact that new-builds are getting smaller. The idea of green number plates for electric cars really has been put forward by the government. The really new thing this week, though, was the news that Bristol University, in partnership with Telecom ParisTech and the Sorbonne University, has developed an artificial silicone skin that could be used to wrap around smartphones. The product, as demonstrated, looks truly revolting.
The idea, apparently, is to give the phone user ‘a richer emotional experience’ and opens the door to ‘anthropomorphic devices’ – or gismos with human characteristics. Dr Anne Roudaut, associate professor at Bristol, is quoted as saying “It may look unconventional, probably because we are used to our senseless and rigid casings, but we feel there are strong advantages of (sic) using more malleable technologies.” The so-called Skin-on interface can be attached to mobile phones, wearable devices and laptop touchpads. Emoji, according to Marc Teyssier, one of the project leaders, are used to demonstrate responses. A laughing emoji appears in response to tickling and a surprised face in response to tapping. If the user is angry, a strong grip will convey that anger to the device, which can even be pinched – if you are feeling that mean.
This news was carried in The Independent and various other newspapers earlier this week, but if you want to see the original invention being demonstrated go to Marc Teyssier’s YouTube video. This is truly creepy. As Joel Hruska writes in ExtremeTech, this product really does produce a reaction of visceral disgust. Of course, as various people have commented, there are likely to be more and less savoury uses of this invention. Maybe the Japanese are already using it on their robots? Ex Machina gets a little closer? I suspect I am not alone in thinking the sex industry might find some uses for this; it might be truly wonderful for people with artificial limbs; but as a casing for my phone? No thanks.
