Wearable computer: fingernail touch sensors

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Credit: SAM OGDEN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Caption: Wearable computing. Male researcher using the prototype fingernail touch sensor he has developed. This affective computer detects each touch of the finger by the change it causes in the colour of the blood capillaries below the nail. Such a system could be used for buttonless controls, for example for a computer. By resting on the fingernails, the sensors do not interfere with the natural sense of touch. Affective computers provide feedback about the wearer's physical state or behaviour. This sensor was created at the Media Lab of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA.

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Keywords: affective computer, affective computing, computer hardware, computing, finger, finger colour, fingernail, high-tech, mit, personal, pressure sensor, technology, touch, touch sensor, wearable computer

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