“The beat started as a low solid rumble, increasing in both pace and volume, Sheila’s skin started to faintly glow. In a matter of minutes her body tattoos were a vivid display of green and oranges pulsating to the rhythm of the beat. At the drop the release came – they started to fade again as the endorphins rushed out of the tattoos and into her blood stream.”
Todays tattoos are static images created by human artists of varying skill. Tomorrow’s design could emerge from a convergence of robotics, nanotechnology, and biomedical engineering. Moving us into the realm of temporary body modifications with functionalities fit for the occasion.
Surgical robots
We have all seen them, these tattoo mistakes, often of faces of loved ones, or simple spelling mistakes. A potential lifelong reminder of a less wise decision. But what if tattoos were not done by humans, but surgical robots. What if these robots were equipped with the latest in deep learning computer vision to estimate the 3D shape of the body area, the stretching of the muscles and skin, predictive algorithms for skin aging, and estimation of skin thickness and composition. While maybe devoid of artistic interpretation such robots would leave a very consistent result. Once we have surgical robots placing the “pigments” it opens up for new use cases where we modify the pigment.
Quantum dots
There is a relatively new type of “dye” called quantum dots. Quantum dots are small nano-particles that can absorb and emit different colors of light, and depending on the light source trigger an action – either emitting a different color of light back, increase its temperature or similar. Today this technology is used in TV displays, solar panels etc. In the biomedical field they are being tested for live imaging, drug delivery and similar.
Using such “dyes” we would be able to construct tattoos that would emit light in different colors under different conditions. Either triggered by external light, changes in their chemical environment, changes in heat / electric potential or modulated by sound. This could create truly dynamic tattoos that would change with our external worlds, or display our inner state if triggered by certain hormones like cortisol.
Liposomes
What if we could go even further – not only display our inner state but also manipulate it? Quantum dots can be embedded into small drug delivery vehicles like liposomes. Liposomes are a kind of a small lipid pouch that you can load different payloads into – like drugs. The liposomes can be designed to have different release profiles or be quite stable. If we embed quantum dots into the surface of these liposomes, we can now control when they start to release their payload, as a triggering of the quantum dot could destabilize the lipid layer. There you have it, evocative tattoos that release specific payloads based on your surrounds or inner state. All delivered by a custom service surgical robot. The best part – these could be temporary and made to fit the occasion.
Reality check
As with all futuristic ideas, it is hard to judge just when and if something like this scenario could become a reality. While surgical robots are present, there is a lot to be done in both data collection, training and testing before they can operate autonomous even for something as superficial as tattoos. Quantum dots is an active field of research, and the major limitations here would be on long term safety in human injection. They contain a series of heavy metals which would likely cause issues, unless other materials or excretion methods were found. Finally, slow release from liposomes is nothing new, and present today. However, embedding quantum dots and having a triggered release is novel and requires additional testing and tuning to get just right.