Motorola smart tattoos hit throat: lie detector mics abound

A patent application has been made public this week which shows Motorola to be thinking about creating "tattoo stickers" that would be applied to a users throat. These aren't the same sort of temporary tattoos you'd have gotten in 12-packs of Barqs rootbeer in the 90's, but a sort of sticker that'd be just a bit more long-lasting. What Motorola proposes here is that the user would keep this sticker/tattoo on their throat and use it as a microphone for their smartphone – one that could do just a bit more than listen to what you're saying.

What you'll be able to do with this invention – if it becomes a real-deal device – is slap it on your throat and be heard in a noisy environment as clearly as you would be in an empty room. You'll also be working with wireless transmission (of course), to connect to your smartphone so that this next-level noise cancellation will be able to work for phone calls, voice commands, and whatever else you'd need it for.

As pointed out by UnwiredView, this Motorola invention will also be able to tell your Moto X when a person is lying.

"... galvanic skin response detector to detect skin resistance of a user. It is contemplated that a user that may be nervous or engaging in speaking falsehoods may exhibit different galvanic skin response than a more confident, truth telling individual. " – Motorola

Sound like a fabulous invention to you? How about if you were able to carry such a device around and press it up against a person's throat whenever you wanted? That's certainly not something those able to trick today's blood-pressure-centered lie detector tests would want to see any time soon.

Motorola also made waves earlier this year when they first brought up the idea of digital tattoos for the common user. These are also similar to the tattoo stickers being spoken of today, being revealed right alongside some smart tracking pills you'd be able to swallow to find out what's wrong with your gullet.

Have a peek at our recent deeper look into "What's inside Motorola's digital tattoo? for more information on where the company is going. Hint: it's not just down the line with affordable smartphones.

Above you'll see another vision from the folks at UIUC and Coleman Lab at UCSD regarding smart tattoos. Believe it or not, this video was produced all the way back in 2011 – this technology is only just now becoming something we're really getting serious about for the common user!

SOURCE: USPTO