Fabricate flexible electronics directly on your skin with the BodyPrinter
Arduino Team — November 5th, 2020
What if you could print circuit “tattoos” right on your body? While the idea of augmentation with a pre-assembled electronic sticker isn’t new, the technique proposed by a team of KAIST and MIT Media Lab researchers takes things to a new level.
Their small BodyPrinter device — composed of a custom 3D-printed plotter with a movable head and a mounted extruder — can be strapped directly to multiple body parts, including fingers, arms, back, stomach, forehead, neck, laps and shoulders. After a little calibration, it deposits conductive ink on a “liquid bandage” substrate that’s already attached directly to a subject’s skin.
The BodyPrinter is controlled by an Arduino Uno and CNC shield, and a number of experiments with the resulting circuits have already been explored. A quick overview of the system can be seen in the video below, and more details are available in the team’s paper.
We care about the privacy and personal data of our users.
To continue, please give us your consent:
Please confirm that you have read the privacy policy
Thank you for subscribing!
Curious to learn more?
Are you also a teacher, student, or professional that loves using Arduino in your day-to-day activities?
Then keep up-to-date with either our STEM or Professional monthly newsletters.
Arduino weekly newsletter (already subscribed)
Educators can benefit from the ever growing tech that shapes our environment through fun cool projects.
Why not awe your boss with highly innovative ways to help keep your enterprise connected at no extra cost?
Arduino Survey
We'd like to get to know you little better.
Please help us improve by answering this super short optional survey.