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AlterNail: Ambient, Batteryless, Stateful, Dynamic Displays at your Fingertips

Published: 02 May 2017 Publication History

Abstract

Beyond phones, watches, and activity tracking devices, a new ecosystem of functional and fashionable wearable technologies can easily, safely, and economically be designed, prototyped, and integrated directly on the body. In this paper, we present AlterNail, a fingernail form factor, ambient, low-power, stateful, wireless, dynamic display with onboard vibrational sensing. AlterNail integrates a batteryless design using inductive coupling with e-ink technology to enable both quick dynamic and long-term static fingernail based visual designs without the need for power. We also detail the use of simple vibrational signals to uniquely identify everyday objects as they are handled using AlterNails. The intentionally limited interactional functionality of AlterNails, coupled with the rich personal and dynamic expressive potential, combine to present a compelling range of opportunities for designers of new interactive wearable technologies. We detail a range of practical and playful applications using this technology.

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References

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  • (2024)ECSkin: Tessellating Electrochromic Films for Reconfigurable On-skin DisplaysProceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies10.1145/36596138:2(1-26)Online publication date: 15-May-2024
  • (2023)ChromaNails: Re-Programmable Multi-Colored High-Resolution On-Body Interfaces using Photochromic Nail PolishAdjunct Proceedings of the 36th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology10.1145/3586182.3615824(1-5)Online publication date: 29-Oct-2023
  • (2023)Augmenting On-Body Touch Input with Tactile Feedback Through Fingernail HapticsProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581473(1-13)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
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  1. AlterNail: Ambient, Batteryless, Stateful, Dynamic Displays at your Fingertips

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    CHI '17: Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
    May 2017
    7138 pages
    ISBN:9781450346559
    DOI:10.1145/3025453
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives International 4.0 License.

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    Published: 02 May 2017

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    Author Tags

    1. ambient devices
    2. cosmetic computing
    3. fingernails
    4. wearables

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    Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

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    Cited By

    View all
    • (2024)ECSkin: Tessellating Electrochromic Films for Reconfigurable On-skin DisplaysProceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies10.1145/36596138:2(1-26)Online publication date: 15-May-2024
    • (2023)ChromaNails: Re-Programmable Multi-Colored High-Resolution On-Body Interfaces using Photochromic Nail PolishAdjunct Proceedings of the 36th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology10.1145/3586182.3615824(1-5)Online publication date: 29-Oct-2023
    • (2023)Augmenting On-Body Touch Input with Tactile Feedback Through Fingernail HapticsProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581473(1-13)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
    • (2023)Vim: Customizable, Decomposable Electrical Energy StorageProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581110(1-18)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
    • (2023)Lotio: Lotion-Mediated Interaction with an Electronic Skin-Worn DisplayProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581098(1-15)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
    • (2023)iFAD Gestures: Understanding Users’ Gesture Input Performance with Index-Finger Augmentation DevicesProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3580928(1-17)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
    • (2023)User-Centered Perspectives on the Design of Batteryless WearablesInternational Journal of Human–Computer Interaction10.1080/10447318.2023.227652840:23(8025-8046)Online publication date: 21-Nov-2023
    • (2022)Hidden Interfaces for Ambient Computing: Enabling Interaction in Everyday Materials through High-brightness Visuals on Low-cost Matrix DisplaysProceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491102.3517674(1-20)Online publication date: 29-Apr-2022
    • (2022)FabricatINK: Personal Fabrication of Bespoke Displays Using Electronic Ink from Upcycled E ReadersProceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491102.3501844(1-15)Online publication date: 29-Apr-2022
    • (2021)Twin Meander CoilProceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies10.1145/34949965:4(1-21)Online publication date: 30-Dec-2021
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