IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2016 - 74

wearable consumer electronics for a myriad of applications, including interactive haptic environments [5],
healthcare [6], data communications [7], wearable interfaces [8], and people tracking [9]. Artificial Intelligence
(AI) continues to make remarkable progress in controlled settings and promises to bring intelligence to everything we interact with [10].
These various domains overlap in the incipient world
of subcutaneous consumer electronics devices. Such
devices include a range of networked biocompatible
consumer electronics devices that users have implanted
into their bodies for purposes of convenience, communication, entertainment, fitness, shopping, and security.
While to date, body-implantable electronic devices have
been the province of research centers and fringe enthusiast groups [11], such technology will enter the mainstream in the near future [12]. The underlying vision is
one of ubiquitous connectivity - an Internet of Everything (IoE), including humans [13].
This article investigates current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for the emerging
and futuristic field of intelligent body-implantable
device. This strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats (SWOT) analysis aims to facilitate identification,
understanding, and evaluation of strategic factors that
assist or hinder mainstream realization, as well as the
internal/external forces with which the technology is
confronted. Such an analysis is essential for strategic
technology planning, and inherently considers factors
and forces from both the perspective of the technology
and the users. The article also discusses the role of
artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in subcutaneous networks, and aims to emphasize the profile of both the fledgling technology and its assortment
of hurdles.

Significant Social and Technological Trends
A new generation of makers, hackers, and early
adopters has increased acceptance of technological
possibilities that previous generations would have
shunned without consideration. Younger members of
society document their lives on the Internet for anyone to browse and comment upon, with seemingly
scarce regard for security or privacy at times. These
individuals may spend a sizable portion of their personal wealth on popular consumer electronics,
including smartphones, smartwatches, novelty apps,
gadgets, etc.
There is also a rising social trend of tattooing and
body piercing. Approximately 10% of those surveyed in
England in 2005 had body piercings in places other
than the earlobe [14]. One in seven Australian adults
report having a tattoo [15], and the percentage of U.S.
adults having tattooed increased from 14% in 2008 to

21% in 2012 [16]. This trend highlights an opportunity
for greater public acceptance of subcutaneous objects,
skin e-tattoos, etc. Tattoos, piercings, and implants are
all definable as deliberate alterations of the human
body and most biohackers (fringe groups who insert
various electronic objects on, in, and under the skin)
also have multiple tattoos and piercings [17].
Technology is advancing at an ever increasing rate,
time-to-market is getting shorter, and components and
systems are becoming ever smaller and smarter. Future
subcutaneous devices will be selected by consumers in
the same way that portable electronics are currently
chosen, the key difference being their subcutaneous
nature. A number of consumer implantable electronic
devices already exist, such as the personal identity
Verichip (now PositiveID) [18]. Rarely a day passes without new smart wearable or future embedded devices
making headlines, such as brain-computer interfaces
(BCIs) to operate machines using thought [19], stretchable on-body touch-sensor skin tattoos for mobile computing [20], wearables that utilize bodies as fuel
sources [21], contact lenses with controllable magnification [22], and disability-eliminating cyborg systems
[23], to name a few.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are examples of existing science that have recently enjoyed a
noteworthy jump in sophistication [24]. Google's artificially intelligent computing system (AlphaGo) made
headlines in March 2016 for winning 4 out of 5 games
of the 2500-year-old Chinese game called "Go" against
one of the world's top Go players [25], [26]. The use of
AI is spilling into implanted medical devices, such as
BCIs, to control artificial limbs [27]. Indeed, with
ground-breaking amputated fingertip replacement,
users can now feel textures [28]. Such advances could
allow consumers to be immersed in a virtual reality with
multi-sensory perception including realistic touch.
Current medical practice understands the body
much better than at any time in the past. Medical comprehension about bio-compatibility of modern materials and technologies [29] is critical in developing dental
implants, joint replacement, bone cement, skin scaffolding, stints, hip joints, implanted devices, etc. [30].
There are many examples of health-based sensors with
high commercial impact. These include dental implants
to monitor oral health, eating patterns, dietary intake,
etc.; muscle strain sensors to reduce risk of muscular
injury and highlight workout fitness levels; fertility monitors to assist with family planning or abstinence monitoring; internal health monitors to detect illnesses
before they develop too far (e.g., bowel cancer); and
blood pressure sensors to monitor the "silent killer" in
real time [31]. The last few examples overlap strongly
with medical implantable devices, but many of these

IEEE TEchnology and SocIETy MagazInE

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september 2016

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