IDTechEx

Fitness Sensor Warns When You're at Your Limits

Ultrathin nanomaterials, known as MXenes, are poised to make it easier to monitor a person's well-being by analyzing their perspiration. While they share a similar two-dimensional nature to graphene, MXenes are composed of nontoxic metals, such as titanium, in combination with carbon or nitrogen atoms. With naturally high conductivity and strong surface charges, MXenes are attractive candidates for biosensors that can detect small changes to chemical concentrations.

Devising New Meat Alternatives with 3D printing — And Cocoa Butter

No longer just a dream of vegetarians and vegans, fake meat is becoming more widely available in grocery stores and restaurants. And more options are almost certainly on the way. One team has developed a new combination of plant-based ingredients tailored for 3D printing meat alternatives. Their most successful recipes required an odd-sounding addition: cocoa butter, derived from cocoa beans of chocolate fame.

Kawasaki Trials Unmanned VTOL Aircraft and Delivery Robot

Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd announced the successful completion of proof-of-concept testing for unmanned cargo transport by cooperation of its unmanned vertical take-off and landing aircraft and delivery robot.

Self Healing Perovskite Solar Cell

These solar cells have shown amazing humidity stability and self-healing behavior after 500 hours of operation, according to the researchers.

LG Display Unveils OLED EX

Deuterium compounds are used to make highly efficient organic light-emitting diodes that emit stronger light. LG Display has successfully converted the hydrogen elements present in organic light emitting elements into stable deuterium and managed to apply the compounds to OLED EX for the first time.

Engineers Bring a Soft Touch to Commercial Robotics

Inspired by the natural dexterity of the human hand, a team of engineers has created a reconfigurable hybrid robotics system that is able to grip a variety of objects: from the small, soft and delicate to the large, heavy and bulky. This technology is expected to impact a range of industries, involving food assembly, vertical farming and fast-moving consumer goods packaging, which will progressively automate more of their operations in the coming years.

BYD Investment in RoboSense

BYD's investment will help RoboSense engage more closely in the smart new energy vehicle industry ecology, laying a solid foundation for in-depth industry collaboration between the two companies.

Nano Chocolates that Store Hydrogen

An innovative approach could turn nanoparticles into simple reservoirs for storing hydrogen. The highly volatile gas is considered a promising energy carrier for the future, which could provide climate-friendly fuels for airplanes, ships and lorries, for example, as well as allowing climate-friendly steel and cement production - depending on how the hydrogen gas is generated.

Velo3D Ships First Sapphire XC to an Aerospace Customer

Velo3D Inc has announced its first Sapphire XC delivery. The Sapphire XC, or "Extra Capacity," is the company's newest and largest metal 3D printer that delivers both faster production and larger parts.

Girteka Logistics Recognised as a Green Carrier by DHL

Girteka Logistics,was one of the first road freight transport companies to be given the Green Carrier Certificate by one of its partners, DHL. The certificate was established by the German-based logistics company to certify its subcontractors, increasing the transparency behind its sustainability goals for its stakeholders.

Fabrication of Flexible Electronics Improved

Researchers have developed a technique to improve the flexibility of ultra-thin electronics, such as those used in bendable devices or clothing. Published in Science Advances, the study details the use of water vapor plasma to directly bond gold electrodes fixed onto separate ultra-thin polymer films, without needing adhesives or high temperatures.

More Intelligent Intracochlear Implants

The cochlear implant is the most successful neural prosthesis worldwide. Thanks to direct stimulation of the auditory nerve, it enables more than half a million people worldwide to hear, even though those affected were born deaf or deafened. Researchers have developed a method to convert the stimulation electrodes of common cochlear implants into electrochemical sensors.

Phosphorene Nanoribbons Live up to Hype in First Demonstration

Researchers have incorporated phosphorene nanoribbons into new types of solar cells, dramatically improving their efficiency. Phosphorene nanoribbons are ribbon-like strands of the 2D material phosphorous, which, similar to graphene, are made of single-atom-thick layers of atoms. PNRs were first produced in 2019, and hundreds of theoretical studies have predicted how their properties could enhance all kinds of devices, including batteries, biomedical sensors, and quantum computers.

Shellac for Printed Circuits

More precise, faster, cheaper: Researchers all over the world have been working for years on producing electrical circuits using additive processes such as robotic 3-printing (so-called robocasting) - with great success, but this is now becoming a problem. The metal particles that make such "inks" electrically conductive are exacerbating the problem of electronic waste.

Grid Connected Battery and Solar Farm for New Zealand

A grid-connected battery and solar farm are being planned north of Auckland to improve the stability of the national grid, reduce the chance of network outages and allow more electricity to flow north from South Island generators.

3D Bioprinted Tissues Can Now be Stored in the Freezer Until Needed

A major obstacle to widespread study and clinical use of 3D tissues is their short shelf-life, which may be anywhere from a just few hours to a few days. As in the case of an organ transplant, a bioprinted tissue must be transported rapidly to the location where it is needed, or it will not be viable.

New York City to Invest $420M in Electric Vehicles and Infrastructure

Actions will reduce climate emissions from city government by nearly 70% by 2030 from 2006 with aggressive fleet electrification targets in the country, including requiring all passenger cars and light trucks in the City vehicle fleet to be electric no later than 2030. It also requires a review of every SUV in city government and to eliminate any unnecessary use of SUVs.

Mind Controlled Robots Now One Step Closer

Researchers have developed a machine-learning program that can be connected to a human brain and used to command a robot. The program adjusts the robot's movements based on electrical signals from the brain. The hope is that with this invention, tetraplegic patients will be able to carry out more day-to-day activities on their own.

Sensors Set to Revolutionise Brain Controlled Robotics

A novel carbon-based biosensor is set to drive new innovations in brain-controlled robotics. The sensor is made of epitaxial graphene - essentially multiple layers of very thin, very strong carbon - grown directly onto a silicon-carbide-on-silicon substrate. The result is a highly scalable novel sensing technology that overcomes three major challenges of graphene-based biosensing: corrosion, durability and skin contact resistance

Hydrogen Powered Trains in Queensland

Australia's largest rail freight operator, Aurizon and leading global mining company Anglo American have agreed to work together on a feasibility study to assess the introduction of hydrogen-powered trains for bulk freight.