Biotech meets wearables – Introducing the tech tattoo

Wearable technology—such as Fitbit, Jawbone or the Apple Watch—is a hugely popular trend. But where do we go next?

A startup called Chaotic Moon thinks it has the answer. It’s working on a line of “Tech Tats, ” which will stick right onto the skin and use electro-conductive paint to monitor vital signs, such as blood pressure or heart rate. Aesthetically, the tech tats look pretty cool, too.

According to Wired UK, Chaotic Moon CEO Ben Lamm sees a multitude of uses for his company’s Tech Tat. Monitoring vital stats in health care is an obvious use. Such a product could also be used to keep tabs on a child in a crowd, or could work in military tracking applications. Currently, the Chaotic Moon Tech Tat is in beta and not publicly available. 

Other companies are getting in on the tech tattoos game, too. New Deal Design, the company that helped turn the FitBit from a clunky pedometer into a sleek and desirable accessory, is one of the big players. In “Project Underskin,” the New Deal Design team is working on a “smart digital tattoo” that would have consumer and medical applications. For instance, the small wearable tattoo, when stuck to the user’s hand, could open a door based on biometrics, rather than using a key or a swipe card.

While it’s safe to bet that we’ll see tech tattoos hitting the consumer market in the coming years, they probably won’t be as permanent as an ink tattoo. For one thing, embedding the Tech Tattoo under the skin, rather than on the top layer of skin, affects conductivity, Chaotic Moon’s Lamm tells Wired.

Besides the technology aspect, there’s also the question of whether consumers are ready to commit to an always on, always trackable piece of embedded tech. Making such a decision would be huge and, just like the ink tattoo, it could become regrettable.