Fingernail Displays

What happens if we put small displays on fingernails?

Type:: Research
Topic:: Fingernail Displays
Researcher:: Raphael Wimmer, Florian Echtler
Status:: planning
Keywords:: fingernail, touch, displays
started:: 2012-08-01

This wiki page documents ongoing research. Sometimes it does not.

Prototype functional, working on code. CHI WiP poster presented at CHI.

Wimmer, Raphael and Echtler, Florian. Exploring the Benefits of Fingernail Displays. CHI 2013 Extended Abstracts

Su et al. NailDisplay: Bringing an Always-Available Visual Display to Fingertips. CHI 2013
Winkler, Martin and Steimle, Jürgen. Fingernail displays: Handy displays at your ﬁngertips. CHI 2013 Workshop “Displays Take New Shape: An Agenda for Future Interactive Surfaces”, 2013.

put figures on openclipart.org

Git Repository (private at the moment): https://gitlab.raphael.cc/fingernail_displays

E-Ink segmented displays: http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?FV=ffec8d22

OLED module: http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/ISC01P/360-2342-ND/2039169

Another OLED module: http://www.glyn.de/Produkte/Displays/OLED-Displays?q=M00931_VGM064032A0W02

HUD OLED display - expensive (400 USD) and extremely high resolution (~1800 dpi): http://olightek.en.alibaba.com/product/476349700-210642598/0_6inch_SVGA_800_600_OLED.html

„Index finger better for pointing than thumb“, according to:
Wobbrock, J.O., Myers, B.A., and Aung, H.H. The performance of hand postures in front- and back-of-device interaction for mobile computing. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 66, 12 (2008), 857-875.

04.05.2013 German national radio station Deutschlandfunk reports on our research presented at CHI: http://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendungen/computer/2096779/

01.05.2013 Poster presentation at CHI.

10.02.2013 Our WiP was accepted. Along with the one from Taiwan and a workshop paper on the same topic by Jürgen Steimle et al., there will now be 3 (!) presentations on fingernail displays at CHI 2013. Obviously, a topic whose time has come.

22.01.2013 Apparently, researchers at National Taiwan University had the same idea and got their paper "NailDisplay: Bringing an Always-Available Visual Display To Fingertips" accepted as a note for CHI 2013. They also suggest using a fingernail display for mitigating the fat thumb problem. No real evaluation conducted :(.

09.01.2013 Submitted paper for CHI2013 WIP, presenting the concept and discussing research directions.

04.01.2013 Working on draft for CHI 2013 WIP.

03.01.2013 Soldered new connector for OLED.