1 introduction 21 1.1 Skin as an Interactive Medium 21 1.2 Epidermal Computing 22 1.3 Research Challenges and Contributions 23 1.4 Structure of the Thesis 27 I Part One -Understanding Epidermal Computing and Skin Coformality 33 2 background 35 2.1 Functions and Anatomy of Skin 35 2.1.1 Layers of Skin 36 2.1.2 Skin as a Sense Organ 37 2.2 Multi-Disciplinary Analysis of Epidermal Devices 38 2.3 Materials 40 2.3.1 Substrates 40 2.3.2 Functional Materials 42 2.3.3 Skin Adhesives 43 2.4 Fabrication

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... 4 2.4.1 Fabrication Methods 45 2.4.2 Computational Design and Optimization 46 2.4.3 Aesthetics 46 2.5 Functionality of Devices 47 2.5.1 Input 48 2.5.2 Output 51 2.5.3 Computation and Communication 52 2.5.4 Energy Harvesting 53 2.6 Evaluation Methods and Strategies 54 2.6.1 Technical Evaluations 54 2.6.2 Empirical Studies and User Experiments 55 2.7 Applications and Real-World Deployments 56 2.7.1 Health Monitoring and Diagnosis contents 2.8.2 Other Technologies from the Taxonomy of On-Body Interaction 64 2.9 Summary 68 2.9.1 Material Exploration 69 2.9.2 Enriching Sensing Capabilities of Epidermal Devices 69 2.9.3 Easy and Rapid Fabrication Methods couples with Computational Design Approaches 70 2.9.4 Empirical Studies to Inform Device Design 70 3 understanding how epidermal devices affect tactile perception 71 3.1