Some smartwatches come with powerful processors, lots of storage, and robust software, but have limited capabilities compared to smartphones thanks to their tiny touchscreens. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, however, have now created a smartwatch prototype with a built-in projector that turns the wearer’s arm into a smartphone-sized touchscreen.
Despite what you may have seen on crowdfunding sites, the LumiWatch is the first smartwatch to integrate a fully-functional laser projector and sensor array, allowing a screen projected on a user’s skin to be poked, tapped, and swiped just like a traditional touchscreen. It seems like a gadget straight out of science fiction, but don’t reach for your credit card just yet, because it’s going to be a very long time before the technology created for this research project ends up in a consumer-ready device.
