The rise of Smartwatches has breathed new life into technology by helping people better manage their time.
Now, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with ASU Tech, are working on a new watch prototype that takes wearables to the next level. The researchers' creation is called LumiWatch, it runs Android and can project things onto the wearer's wrist!
The smartwatch allows its wearers to interact through an on-body interface that spans 40 square centimeters. That's about five times more than a typical smartwatch screen.
While there have been several attempts to build wearable devices based on projection in the past, the LumiWatch is the first fully functional smartwatch that features a usable interface with the body.
LumiWatch uses red, green, and blue laser lights to project the UI onto the user's hand. It can last for almost an hour with continuous viewing and 2D finger tracking. The researchers estimate that the 740mAh battery can last for almost a day with normal use.
The device is powered by Android 5.1 running on a 1.2Ghz Qualcomm chip with 768MB of RAM and 4GB of flash memory, Bluetooth and WiFi. In terms of size, the LumiWatch is not something that will go unnoticed, as it measures 2 x 1.6 x 0.66 inches.
Its estimated cost is around $600. This could change if it is released as a commercial product. Details of the smartwatch were published in a research paper titled “LumiWatch: On-Arm Projected Graphics and Touch Input.”
