Researchers create smartphone case made of artificial human skin

This phone cover might give some people the heebie-jeebies. It's made from artificial skin and it's not the only one.

Researchers say they have also developed faux skin prototypes for other devices.

The idea is to give the user some life-like sensations. The phone case can be tickled and pinched just like human flesh.

The artificial skin is made from silicone and sensors that give it that real-life look and feel.

Marc Teyssier from Telecom ParisTech, along with researchers from HCI Sorbonne Universite and CNRS, developed the artificial skin for mobile devices.



"I also made a nice touchpad," tweeted Teyssier.

"Skin-On Interfaces are devices that augment existing devices with realistic skin," explained Teyssier on the projects website. "When we interact with others, we use skin as interfaces. However the objects of mediated communication - such as the smartphone - still has a cold interface that doesn't allow natural interaction and input. In this project, I wanted to make available the perfect human interface that is the skin for existing devices."

No word yet if and when it will go on sale.