Designer Creates Microchip Manicure That Double as a London Subway Card

Why fumble around for your subway card when you can just slap your hand against the card reader? Design student Lucie Davis created a microchip-equipped manicure to allow her to scan into the London Underground with just a touch of her fingers, Mashable reports.

Created as part of her final undergraduate project in jewelry design at Central Saint Martins in London, the press-on nails are embedded with the same kind of RFID chip used in Oyster cards, the London Underground’s metro card. RFID technology is commonly used in the key cards that unlock office doors and hotel rooms.

Lucie Davis via Central Saint Martins

Davis checked with Transport for London, which runs the Tube system, to get permission to take apart an existing Oyster card and embed the chip in a fake nail. She’s since been in touch with the transit system to discuss implementing the nail tech more widely in the future, though their talks are still in the beginning stages, according to the Evening Standard.

Other people have resorted to implanting RFID chips into their bodies to program for similar functions, but a manicure would be a way more painless method of keeping your digital security close at hand. 

[h/t Mashable]

All images courtesy Lucie Davis

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