Tablets can be very useful in places like factories, with maintenance workers being able to carry them around and check on tasks as they go. Soon, however, factory workers might not need to carry anything around, with researchers in Japan working on a system that will transform the human body into tablet, touchpads, keyboards and so on, enabling them to keep their hands free for other things.

The research is being conducted by NEC Corp, which recently announced that it had created what it calls the "ARmKeypad." The device is basically a pair of glasses paired with a smartwatch that can display augmented reality information on the user's arm.

Using the two devices, the glasses basically display the information on the forearm, while the watch tracks the wearer's motion, enabling them to do things like type on their arm.

"I wanted to make a keyboard of the body so I created this device for people who work in maintenance or factory jobs," said Shin Norieda, a researcher at NEC who created the device, in an interview with Motherboard. "They can just go hands-free."

In fact, the idea for the ARmKeypad has been in the works for a while now. Norieda created a different version of the device back in 2011, with users tapping different areas of their arm to control things like the music they were listening to. Using this device, tapping the upper arm would stop the music, while tapping the forearm would start it again.

Of course, the new device is a much more precise one, enabling users to type messages using a keyboard on their arm. Not only that, but NEC is planning on taking the device to the next level, releasing it to factory workers in 2016. According to the company, some of the visuals behind the device still need some work, and it wants to release it to a wider consumer market in the future.

Via: Motherboard