Tattoo culture is being fused with technology today. Although they still look similar in the past, tattoos now have boasted additional functionality. Tattoos today are meant to help us, especially those who have certain conditions, to monitor blood sugar level and heart rate. It can also be used as a remote control or can be temporary without the need of laser to remove it.

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Here are the looks of tattoos in the future.

Medical Wearables

Chaotic Moon is an electronic tattoo developer, currently working on its latest project called TechTats. The system inserts electrodes in the tattoo template that remains on the skin to tracks biometric data, like the heart rate and temperature of the body. The data will be then wirelessly forwarded to a nearby device.

Bio-Inks
 
Bio-inks have specific enzymes to recognize certain chemicals, developed by researchers at the University of California. Bio-inks are meant to detect pollutants in the air and gauge glucose levels underneath the skin. However, an external device is still required to process the data, though the team is already working on inks that can transmit data wirelessly to a monitoring device.

This could be useful, especially for diabetic patients, in the future to get a tattoo with a glucose sensing bio-ink. That means, there's no need for a finger-prick test, instead, hi-tech tattoos can regularly monitor the wearer's glucose levels.

DuoSkin

In 2016 MIT and Microsoft merged to design an invention that transformed gold leaf temporary tattoos into just a touch-sensitive interface.

The DuoSkin functions as a skin-based remote control for whatever can be remotely controlled provided by its wireless communication capabilities. It could also be used to trace the temperature of the body or install an NFC chip for payment or opening your car with the wave of a hand.

Disappearing Tattoo Ink

Set to launch sometime in 2018, Ephemeral Tattoos offer disappearing tattoo ink for those who do not want a permanent tattoo, but rather temporary that will only last for few months. The tattoo remains on the skin for three, six or 12-month which is made up of a limited ink with fewer molecules compared to standard tattoo dyes.

3D-Printing Tattoos
 
A France-based company, Appropriate Audiences, has designed a 3D printer machine that could possibly tattoo a human arm.

In prior presentations of the machine, there are only simple designs on limited parts of the body. But, it shows its ability to design a specific tattoo precisely and repeatedly. In the future, tattoo parlors could employ the machine to instantly ink the skin in just a push of a button.

Soundwave Tattoos

Soundwave tattoos are set to launch this coming July 2017. These are based on the waveforms uploaded on the website of the company. It could be your favorite song quote or even the laugh of your baby. The short waveform pattern is generated and will be tattooed on your body.

The image and the chosen audio will be uploaded to a database and can be accessed using the Soundwave app by scanning the tattoo. However, because of the complexity of the data, the system does not really read the exact waveforms on the skin, but it uses an identical image to reference an audio file from the database.