TyroMotion GmbH (AT)

Highlights to look forward to at Printed Electronics USA next month

Next month, the largest event on printed, organic and flexible electronics ever held will open at the Santa Clara Convention Center, on Nov 16th and 17th. Featuring over 200 exhibitors and over 220 speakers and attended by over 3000 attendees, the event covers the lively new innovations and user insights in the heart of Silicon Valley. Here are a few of the reasons why you should be there.

How wearable technology can improve cancer treatment

Researchers aim to provide doctors with real-time patient data from wearable technology and patient-reported experiences so that physicians can base their treatment decisions on objective measures rather than just subjective and episodic observations.

Lights, action, electrons!

Electrons are far too small and fast to be seen, even with the help of a light microscope. This has made measuring an electron's movement very difficult for the past century.

3D printed robots with shock-absorbing skins

Researchers have presented a new method for 3-D printing soft materials that make robots safer and more precise in their movements — and that could be used to improve the durability of drones, phones, shoes, helmets, and more.

Solar hydrogen refuelling station in London

IDTechEx believes that the window of opportunity for fuel cell vehicles in mainstream applications is closing. Whereas Battery Electric Vehicles increasingly have green electricity, fuel cell vehicles almost entirely use hydrogen from fossil fuels and even that is expensive.

A mind-controlled robotic arm

Researchers have demonstrated for the first time ever in humans a technology that allows a quadriplegic to experience the sensation of touch through a robotic arm that he controls with his brain.

World record for nanowire solar cells

Researchers have gained a new world record for the efficiency of nanowire-based solar cells: 17.8 percent. These types of solar cell have been around for just a few years but in terms of efficiency are catching up to other types and are thus very promising for the sustainable energy supply.

Blueshift Materials

IDTechEx Technology Analyst Dr Richard Collins interviewed Tim Burbey (CEO) from Blueshift International Materials. A company that produces polymer aerogel products.

Sensor that measures perspiration to monitor glucose levels

Researchers are sweating the small stuff in their efforts to develop a wearable device that can monitor an individual's glucose level via perspiration on the skin.

Airbus standardizes on Stratasys additive manufacturing solutions

Stratasys Ltd announces that leading aircraft manufacturer Airbus has standardized on its ULTEM 9085 3D printing material for the production of flight parts for its A350 XWB aircraft.

Structural electronics for EV heating

EVs use a lot of their precious electricity  heating occupiers in winter so improvements are afoot. Making replacements for dumb structural parts that double as occupant focussed heating has attraction as has directed infrared - "heat the person not the space" but less focussed heat pumps are efficient contenders

Semiconductor technology enables larger displays, razor sharp images

The task of thin-film transistors is to fulfill viewers' high demands and enable high definition television. Modern full HD TVs contain about six million of them.

When will 48V mild hybrids become EVs?

48V mild hybrids will start series production at many automotive manufacturers in 2017 with many others following shortly after.

Electric vehicles: next comes the melodrama

Electric vehicles have gone from curiosity to being a frequent news item and, if you live in Norway or the Netherlands, something you see often. However, that is nothing compared to EVs shaking the foundations of society over the coming decade from robot agriculture and delivery to almost free travel in sunny countries and almost eliminating air pollution even in mining.

Agricultural robots are data acquisition tools at heart

Agricultural robots will accelerate an enormous global value chain reconfiguration, bringing the endgame of ultra-precision automated farming ever closer.

PragmatIC strengthens financial and commercial position

PragmatIC has secured £18 million of funding including a strategic investment from Avery Dennison. Avery Dennison joins existing shareholders Cambridge Innovation Capital and ARM, who also participated in the round.  

New kind of supercapacitor made without carbon

Researchers have for the first time developed a supercapacitor that uses no conductive carbon at all, and that could potentially produce more power than existing versions of this technology.

Beaver-inspired wetsuits in the works

Engineers have now fabricated fur-like, rubbery pelts and used them to identify a mechanism by which air is trapped between individual hairs when the pelts are plunged into liquid.

Flow batteries in cars?

At IDTechEx we are convinced that lithium-ion batteries will dominate the automotive scene over the coming ten years and possibly the coming fifteen years. During that time we shall see peak lead acid battery the biggest nail in its coffin being when electric vehicles more widely abandon them and even those conventional vehicles modified to stay legal under impending carbon dioxide laws abandon them, relying totally on lithium-ion units.  

The spectre of free 3D models

There has been an increasing trend towards hobbyists buying designs to 3D print on their own 3D printers at home, rather than do the difficult design work themselves. Brands are now trying to sell 3D designs rather than physical products. But the internet is full of free designs, and customers can't always tell the real things from the fakes. This has important implications for consumer safety, but also for the livelihoods of freelance designers. IDTechEx invited Martynas Klimas of CG Trader to explain the problems and implications.