Australian Man Installs Microchip In Hand, For Keyless Living

An Australian man finds that many of life’s daily hassles are reduced by installing a RFID chip in your right hand. Perhaps this is how the rest of us will be convinced to do it. The Sydney Morning Herald reports:

Fed up with carrying his keys around, Joe Wooller, 28, decided it was time for an implant. This year, the father of two from Perth had a microchip, which uses radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, implanted in his right hand.

His passive RFID chip does not require batteries, can last for many years and communicates with receivers attached to doors, for instance, via a magnetic field. “The goal was really just to get rid of keys and to try to minimize the amount of clutter one would have in their pockets,” he said.

Since the surgery in June, performed while he was still awake and posted on his website, Mr Wooller has endeavored to uncover as many ways to use the chip as possible. “RFID, apart from it being technical, it was an interesting sort of project. So I had a look around; there were a number of people out there who had already put implants in their hands and I haven’t seen any real side effects yet,” he said.

So far, Mr Wooller can open two doors to his house, start his motorbike and open his car’s doors – all with just a swipe of his hand. The only problem is that he still needs a key to take the fuel cap off his motorbike. “But just being able to jump on it and go for a ride [without keys] is pretty good,” he said.

The process of getting the chip implanted was fairly simple once he had the equipment required, Mr Wooller said. “I was lucky enough for my doctor to do it who gave me a local [anaesthetic] – so it was fine; it didn’t hurt at all. It was rather interesting watching,” he said. “There’s a little bit of a scar there and the chip has moved a little bit since I got it implanted and it moves around a little bit from time to time but it’s not really noticeable.”

He said it could be seen if he flexed his hand a certain way but if you were not looking for it you would not know it was there.