Programmed with chemistry and biology, LogicInk “tattoos” change dynamically — giving you live feedback about your body and environment.
Programmable ‘tattoos’ that inform you about your body and integrate seamlessly into your life
Applied like a temporary tattoo, LogicInk senses from your sweat, skin volatiles, skin microbiome, or surrounding environment to provide live feedback.
The tattoo itself is the visual display, eliminating the need for bulky electronic devices. There’s no learning curve; no additional investment. And, because LogicInk’s sensors are in the ink, its design is highly customizable, making them attractive to a much wider demographic than other currently available options.
Various sensors we’re currently working on
The LogicInk team is currently developing tattoo sensors that capture and relay information about an individual’s hydration, blood alcohol concentration, exposure to pollution, and even DNA, to name a few. Our real-time UV exposure sensor is already in production and on the market.
We’ve launched this Kickstarter to help us ramp up production on LogicInk UV and to continue developing compelling new applications.
No apps required –the tattoo is the UI. Optional –in development– mobile app allows you to scan LogicInk –e.g. once a day– to track historical data.
Our First Product: LogicInk UV
According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, more people in the U.S. are diagnosed with skin cancer each year than all other cancers combined. One in five Americans will develop skin cancer in their lifetime. And by some estimates, the cumulative effect of harmful UV rays is responsible for 90% of skin aging .
LogicInk UV tracks both your UV exposure at the moment and your cumulative exposure over the course of a day, factoring in your sunblock. Whether wearers are at the beach or in the snow, they won’t ever have to wonder if they’re getting “too much sun.”
Support our Kickstarter to try this unique UV “tattoo” for yourself!
The outer circle turns fully pink when you’ve had enough sun for the day, based on WHO data for sensitive skin. The inner circle moves from white to dark pink (and back) depending on the amount of exposure you’re currently receiving.
“The tanning of your skin from UV rays is a sign of skin damage, and it is never safe. Skin damage from UV rays is a key factor in the premature aging of your skin, and it increases your risk of skin cancer.” — Larry Weiss, M.D.
Our team has spent three years developing tattoo sensors programmed with biology or chemistry, including the following:
Prototype: Alcohol Biosensor
Alcohol is the fourth leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Roughly 20 percent of college students meet the criteria for an Alcohol Use Disorder (NIH).
The ability to monitor alcohol consumption by simple means can promote a healthier lifestyle across a wide user demographic, including young adults.
LogicInk (then called BioInk) won an honorable mention at NIH’s First Wearable Alcohol Biosensor. NIH tested and validated the prototype’s functionality. And yes, someone had to get drunk for research purposes. Similar sensors would react to biomarkers related to nicotine, THC, and caffeine, augmenting LogicInk’s self-diagnosis offerings.
Prototype: Pollution Sensor
Air pollutants negatively affect most of the organs and systems of human body, including our lungs and skin. Pollutants vary in their composition across places and time. The major outdoor air pollutants include particulate matter of less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5). The smaller the particulate, the deeper it penetrates our lungs and other organs.
Knowing the concentration of key air pollutants and the length of our exposure empowers us to act to reduce inhalation and to protect our skin and general health.
Sequence of change in color of a LogicInk pollution (PM2.5) sensor.
At LogicInk, we’ve developed a prototype of a PM2.5 wearable that is able to sense colorimetrically nanograms of a common type of PM2.5 and amplify the signal, so that it’s visible to the naked eye.
We have more work to do to make this prototype into a full product. This includes increasing its sensitivity and reducing its response time.
Prototype: High Energy Visible Light
We’ve developed a Proof of Concept for a high energy visible (HEVL or “blue light”) sensor. Unlike Ultraviolet (UV) radiation, HEVL overexposure doesn’t redden skin, yet “HEVL can be as damaging to the skin as UVA and UVB combined,” producing uneven pigmentation, premature aging, and impaired skin barrier function.
Laboratory swatch of light sensitive ink distinguishing between HEV and UV
Making Your Skin the Interface
Increasingly, people seek novel ways to communicate their identity through appearance via traditional tattoos, vibrant hair colors, and more. LogicInk “tattoos” introduce a new outlet for body-based self-expression, all while granting you access to greater depths of personal health information.
In some ways, our sensors are already familiar to users. Designs mirror the interfaces we’re accustomed to seeing on electronic devices, such the energy bars on smartphones or the activity ring on smartwatches. But we program with chemistry and biology, instead of electronics.
We use space distribution and the overlapping of ink compositions (the assays) to create or “program” tattoo sensor displays. This area remains largely untapped, since colorimetric assays today focus mostly on simple on/off signals within a static space. We expect to create fully new paradigms, advancing how people interact with technology, including tattoo-to-tattoo interactions (patent pending).
Imagine a future where personalized tattoos target conditions based on the wearer’s unique physiology, lifestyle choices, and environment. Or where continuous, en masse screenings for diseases like malaria become economically practical with non-invasive wearables worn in private and renewed easily at home. The potential to do good in the world is astounding, and the tech is exciting.
We envision a day people will mix and match a wide range of sensors into fully customized tattoos that help them live healthier, more informed lives. We’re asking for support to increase production on our UV tattoos and continue developing compelling new applications.
Be part of making that bright future a reality when you contribute to our Kickstarter!
TEAM
We’re an energetic group of people dedicated to the future of health-awareness and body-based self-expression. We are chemists, designers, computer scientists, synthetic biologists, physicians, social media experts, filmmakers, and architects. We are headquartered in San Francisco, with partners and collaborators located around the world. Let us know what you think. We want to hear from you!
Carlos Olguin, Claire Le Maitre, Steven Wrobel, Kari Workman, E Roon Kang, Kenneth Hahn, Peter Foller, Larry Weiss, Stebs Schinnerer,Skylar Tibbits, Tal Danino, Marcelo Coelho, George Church, Ian Fritz.
Risks and challenges
It is hard to make a tattoo-like display where the user interface (the tattoo design) is not programmed with electronics but with chemistry and biology, yet it mimics those displays found in electronic devices like energy bars in your smartphone or activity rings in your smartwatch.
Depending on the specific sensor, we need to deal with aspects such signal amplification (i.e. how to scale visually nanograms of a pollutant to the naked eye), or how to deal with inter-subject variability (e.g. one person sweats more than the other). Besides UV, our experimental work done already on sensors such as pollution or alcohol (validated by NIH) gives us the tools and experience to keep advancing our shared vision.
Got any news, tips or want to contact us directly? Feel free to email us: esistme@gmail.com.
To see more posts like these; please subscribe to our newsletter. By entering a valid email, you’ll receive top trending reports delivered to your inbox.
__
This article and images were originally posted on [kickstarter]. Credit to Author and kickstarter | ESIST.T>G>S Recommended Articles Of The Day
Donations are appreciated and go directly to supporting ESIST.Tech Thank you in advance for helping us to continue to be a part of your online entertainment!
ESIST is your online source for upcoming and current tech, gaming and science. Think of us as the Netflix or Hulu of the three categories where we aggregate and curate the best websites, videos, blogs, and news. Feeding you a daily selection of the best content published on the internet.
View all posts by ESIST Staff
Thank you in advance for helping us to continue to be a part of your online entertainment!
ESIST 