Smart Skin is the gift that keeps on giving to Kumaran Thillainadarajah.

A few years ago, the Fredericton resident developed a thin pressure-sensitive material that could relay information when someone pressed any specific place on the surface. He began to explore practical applications for the technology, such as applying it to artificial limbs so amputees could feel pressure on their prosthetics. However, the development process was long and expensive.

Finally he hit on the right application and in November, 2009, Smart Skin Technologies was born. The company’s main objective is to produce a prototype for a thin cover for touch screen smartphones, so that the user has a wider range of commands by touching the material on the back of the phone.

I say ``main application’’ because Thillainadarajah keeps producing new applications for it, two of which he soon hopes to commercialize through licensing agreements.

A few months ago he learned that the No. 1 mistake that amateur golfers make is the way they grip the club. So Thillainadarajah and his partners – CFO Daniel Picard, business specialist David Manuel, Research Director Felipe Chibante and engineer Arpad Kormendy – designed a training grip that would measure pressure of the hands in real time throughout the course of a golfer’s swing.

``We’re not being distracted from the mobile phone application but we’re hoping to build a prototype [of the golf club grip] and get it out the door by the end of October,’’ said Thillainadarajah. He’s already spoken to equipment manufacturers and hopes to license the product.

But there’s more. The team also looked into the possibility of using the technology for a safety system for senior citizens who want to remain in their own homes. They are working on designing mats that can go in people’s homes and detect if the resident falls and can’t communicate with the outside world.

Even beyond the Smart Skin project, Thillainadarajah and his crew  have found time to develop an app for Android smart phones that prevents a phone from signaling that it is receiving a text message while its owner is driving. As reported by the Telegraph-Journal Monday, WiseDrive can even send a message back to the texter saying the driver can’t respond right now. WiseDrive costs 99 cents and is rated 4.6 out of 5 by user reviews.

After describing all these projects, Thillainadarajah always says his priority is the commercialization of Smart Skin for mobile phones, and he hopes to have a working prototype by late October. With all Smart Skin projects, he hopes to license the technology to a multinational company rather than manufacture it himself.

Smart Skin Technologies is now seeking about $150,000 from angel investors to support the business for the next six months. It’s a modest raise, and Thillainadarajah says he does not believe in going overboard in raising money from investors.  So far he has raised $125,000 -- $50,000 from the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation and $75,000 from the Community Business Development Corporation. He has also raised more than $500,000 in non-dilutive funding.