Young Frankensteins: Biometric authentication with electrical muscle stimulation

University of Chicago researchers have come up with the most improbable (so far) biometric method of authenticating someone’s identity — how fingers react to electrical currents stimulating forearm muscles.

The product, ElectricAuth, requires users to wear a sleeve embedded with electrodes. Electrical signals lasting about a second are sent in different numbers of pulses and at different tempos.

Nodes on their finger record the unique responses. The university researchers are working on a visual recording technique, and a press release announcing the idea shows people wearing augmented reality goggles that have a camera.

The school claims the setup provides 64 million potential interpretations for use in authenticating someone.

Article Topics

access management  |  augmented reality  |  authentication  |  biometrics  |  biometrics research  |  wearables