IDTechEx

Wearable sonar technology to guide sight impaired

Using radar and augmented reality, Sunu Band enables people who are low vision and blind to travel with confidence. Advanced haptic feedback guides the way around any obstacle, and navigation sensors connect to the world that's around you.

Lead acid battery alternatives set to become big business

Cleantech Hub reports that a mere 13% of lead acid batteries are recycled in Nigeria. Yet there is a mini-grid revolution about to take off in Nigeria, such as the World Bank and the Rural Electrification Agency $350 million project as well as other investments into the sector, driving more batteries.

Gentle robotic hand for sea life

The open ocean is the largest and least explored environment on Earth, estimated to hold up to a million species that have yet to be described. However, many of those organisms are soft-bodied - like jellyfish, squid, and octopuses - and are difficult to capture for study with existing underwater tools, which all too frequently damage or destroy them. Now, a new device safely traps delicate sea creatures inside a folding polyhedral enclosure and lets them go without harm using a novel, origami-inspired design.

Improving biosensors for implantable sensing

Biosensors are devices that can detect biological molecules in air, water, or blood. They are widely used in drug development, medical diagnostics, and biological research. The growing need for continuous, real-time monitoring of biomarkers in diseases like diabetes is currently driving efforts to develop efficient and portable biosensor devices.

3D metal printing at micrometer scale.

The FluidFM μ3Dprinter, developed by Cytosurge AG, directly prints microscopic and submicroscopic complex metal structures at room temperature and ambient pressure onto existing objects or surfaces with pinpoint (micrometer) accuracy. This opens new horizons in domains such as microelectronics, MEMS or surface functionalization.

IDTechEx Research: 5G is coming, what to expect and why

5th-Generation Wireless Systems (5G), says the optimist, will revolutionize our life as the 3G/4G systems did.

Fiber lasers: unique tools for automotive & aerospace manufacturing

Automotive and aerospace manufacturers are increasingly turning to fiber lasers to resolve their manufacturing challenges.

Hanergy and Bollore Group to build solar electric vehicles

Hanergy Holding Group subsidiary, Donghan New Energy Automotive Technology inked a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Bluecar, a subsidiary of France's Bollore Group to mark the beginning of new era in the field of solar electric vehicles.

The Centauro: A new disaster response robot

Researchers have completed the realization, assembly and testing of a new disaster response robot: the Centauro, a Centaur-like robot consisting of a four-legged base and an anthropomorphic upper body. The robot is capable of performing robust locomotion, high strength manipulation and harsh interactions that may be necessary during the execution of disaster relief tasks.

Cryptocurrency funded power for Kenya

Sun Exchange, based in South Africa but micro-leasing solar power in Africa, has announced a new partnership with Powerhive, a rural mini-grid solutions provider opening up the crypto-economy to provide access to energy in rural Kenya.

Samsung Display's 'unbreakable flexible panel'

Samsung Display announced that its recently-developed, unbreakable smartphone panel has just been officially verified by Underwriters Laboratories. In addition to being used on smartphones, the newly developed display is expected to find viable markets with other electronic products such as display consoles for automobiles, mobile military devices, portable game consoles and tablet PCs for e-learning.

Connected Energy

Connected Energy uses second-life electric vehicle batteries to build commercial & industrial as well as grid-level energy storage systems. IDTechEx Technology Analyst Dr Na Jiao and Mr Franco Gonzalez visited their Technical Centre and interviewed the CEO of Connected Energy.

SPD Control Systems

SPD Control Systems is a provider of wireless controls for Suspended Particle Devices (SPDs), licensing exclusively from Research Frontiers as well as having its own extensive patent portfolio. It has supplied leading automakers including Ford, Daimler and Tesla.

Microlino electric vehicle street legal in Europe

Microlino has passed the last tests for the EU homologation. Range testing outperformed calculations.

Naval Energies stops its investment in tidal-turbine energy

Naval Energies has decided to stop investing in the field of tidal turbines. Naval Energies will henceforth concentrate its efforts on floating wind turbines and Marine Thermal Energy Conversion.

Seafaring robots break new ground

Researchers from the Australian Institute of Marine Science have broken new ground while trialling aerial and underwater robots at sea, which would allow greater monitoring of the Great Barrier Reef.

3D printing the next generation of batteries

Additive manufacturing can be used to manufacture porous electrodes for lithium-ion batteries--but because of the nature of the manufacturing process, the design of these 3-D printed electrodes is limited to just a few possible architectures.

LifeSignals announces FDA Clearance

LifeSignals received FDA clearance for its wireless LP1100 Life Signal Patch for enabling the next generation of wearable, healthcare monitoring devices.

Researchers develop graphene-enhanced biophotovoltaic technology

Existing photovoltaic technology is not fully capable of realizing the promise of sustainable solar energy. Commercial and emerging photovoltaic technologies require energy-intensive extracting and manufacturing processes and often require metals like tin that generate social conflict and environmental harm with their mining. Slave and child labor, along with rampant environmental destruction and pollution are widespread in the tin mining industry, which in some places is even controlled by militias to fund wars.

Targeting headaches and tumors with nano-submarines

Scientists have developed a new method to enable miniature drug-filled nanocarriers to dock on to immune cells, which in turn attack tumors. In the future, this may lead to targeted treatment that can largely eliminate damage to healthy tissue.