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Low Carbon Shipping: Policy Drivers

This IDTechEx premium article discusses the new policies being introduced by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the EU to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the shipping sector. The policies are expected to drive uptake of low carbon fuel use in shipping such as methane, ammonia, and hydrogen in large vessels, as well as battery solutions in smaller, coastal, or inland vessels.

Facemask Detects Viral Exposure in 10 Minutes With Infected Person

Scientists have created a face mask that can detect common respiratory viruses, including influenza and the coronavirus, in the air in droplets or aerosols. The highly sensitive mask can alert the wearers via their mobile devices within 10 minutes if targeted pathogens are present in the surrounding air.

Brains on board: Smart Microbots Walk Autonomously

A collaborative effort has installed electronic "brains" on solar-powered robots that are 100 to 250 micrometers in size - smaller than an ant's head - so that they can walk autonomously without being externally controlled.

Artificial Soft Surface Autonomously Mimics Shapes From Nature

Engineers have developed a scalable soft surface that can continuously reshape itself to mimic objects in nature. Relying on electromagnetic actuation, mechanical modeling and machine learning to form new configurations, the surface can even learn to adapt to hindrances such as broken elements, unexpected constraints or changing environments.

Sensing Pressure Using Paper

Several industrial, automotive, and healthcare applications rely on accurate and precise measurement of pressure. Flexible and wearable pressure sensors are typically fabricated using petroleum-based polymers. The solid waste generated from using such non-biodegradable plastics is harmful for the environment. To avoid this issue, researchers have now fabricated pressure sensors that use paper as the medium.

Machine Learning Gives Glimpse of How a Dog's Brain Works

Scientists have decoded visual images from a dog's brain, offering a first look at how the canine mind reconstructs what it sees. The results suggest that dogs are more attuned to actions in their environment rather than to who or what is doing the action.

Spectricity

Spectricity is an early-stage Belgian company that has developed low-cost, spatially resolved, spectral image sensors based on CMOS manufacturing methods. IDTechEx caught up with Jonathan Borremans, CTO at Spectricity.

IPT Technology: e-Mobility Wireless Charging

IPT Technology design, manufacture, install, and service wireless charging hardware into a wide variety of electric vehicles. In 2021, IPT acquired the company Primove from Bombardier, which, among other things, has developed solutions for wireless charging of cars and trucks. IDTechEx spoke to their marketing manager and learned about their product portfolio and deployments.

Mercedes-Benz Plans Wind Farm at Test Track in Papenburg

Mercedes-Benz plans to build a wind farm at its test track in Papenburg, northern Germany, with an output of more than 100 MW to cover more than 15 percent of the annual electricity demand of Mercedes-Benz Group AG in Germany. As part of its effort to erect a double-digit number of wind turbines by the middle of the decade, Mercedes-Benz is also planning a long-term power purchase agreement with a partner, equivalent to a triple-digit million euros amount.

Microsoft: HoloLens 2

IDTechEx tried out various demos of Microsoft's HoloLens 2 mixed reality-capable augmented reality headset at Laval Virtual 2022 and attended the company's presentation.

Cardea Bio

Cardea Bio produces the BPU, a biosensor chip that uses graphene.

Aiways: EV Passenger Car Start-up

Aiways are an electric car start-up headquartered in Shanghai, China. Alongside the Chinese market, they are particularly focused on selling their EVs into European markets. IDTechEx spoke with Aiways' European Product Manager Uwe Likar at the 2022 Battery Show in Stuttgart, where he presented an overview of Aiways' operations in China and Europe.

DigiLens

DigiLens is a major innovator in holographic diffractive waveguides that has attracted interest from major investors including Samsung.

Visionaries 777

Visionaries 777 (V777) is a Hong Kong-based company that builds software to link locations and objects to videos and information for purposes including training, marketing, education, and more. The company spun out of Lego — its founders were originally hired to create an AR department at the company.

Lenovo: The ThinkReality A3

Lenovo showcased its ThinkReality A3 headset at Laval Virtual 2022. Released in 2021, these are marketed as a lightweight AR headset or smart glasses, as opposed to an MR device.

HTC Vive

HTC Vive has taken interesting approaches with its VR offerings in late 2021/2022, including use of WiFi 6E to support location-based entertainment and offering a compact headset aimed at unconventional consumer applications.

Volvo Trucks Starts Series Production of Heavy Electric Trucks

Volvo Trucks is beginning series production of the electric versions of the company's heavy-duty trucks: Volvo FH, Volvo FM and Volvo FMX. These trucks can operate at a total weight of 44 tonnes and the three models represent around two thirds of the company's sales.

Evolving Automotive Lidar Technologies and Business Landscape

With the innovation of lidar beam steering technologies, continuous lidar cost reduction, as well as the progress of Advanced Driving Assistance System (ADAS) and Autonomous vehicles (AV), lidars are embracing their potential US$8.4 billion-dollar market by 2033, enabled by automotive applications, which can be further widely expanded to other areas such as robotics, industrial, smart city, and mapping.

Damage Free Way to Gauge Health of Next-Gen Batteries for EVs

Researchers have demonstrated that electrochemical impedance spectroscopy can be a powerful non-destructive tool to study the degradation mechanisms of all-solid-state lithium metal batteries. They studied ceramic-based all-solid-state Li metal batteries prepared by aerosol deposition and heating, identifying the specific interface responsible for the drop in performance. Their work accurately highlights the engineering hurdles that need to be overcome to bring these top-in-class batteries to the market.

New Wearable Device Measures Changing Size of Tumors Below the Skin

Engineers a have created a small, autonomous device with a stretchable/flexible sensor that can be adhered to the skin to measure the changing size of tumors below. The non-invasive, battery-operated device is sensitive to one-hundredth of a millimeter (10 micrometers) and can beam results to a smartphone app wirelessly in real-time with the press of a button.