Sensors

Tracking facial movements - and possibly their cause - is one of the proposed applications for NeckFace, one of the first necklace-type wearable sensing technologies.

WeRide is an autonomous robotaxi developer, founded in 2017 and headquartered in Guangzhou, China.

While vehicle interiors might be an obvious target for emerging technologies based on printed/flexible electronics, there are also plenty of opportunities for vehicle exteriors. These range from transparent heaters to solar panels, and benefit from attributes as varied as transparency, conformality, low weight, and tunable absorption spectra.

To enable the development of wearable devices that possess advanced ultraviolet detection functions, scientists have created a new type of light sensor that is both flexible and highly sensitive.

Pony.ai is an autonomous robotaxi company founded in 2016 and co-located between California and Guangzhou, China.

AutoX is backed by Alibaba and based in Shenzhen, China. They are one of the leaders in the race to providing a robotaxi service and have a presence in both the US and China.

InnovationLab announced that it has been working with Trelleborg Sealing Solutions to integrate its printed sensors into an innovative logistics application.

ISORG is an early stage company that is developing organic photodetectors for both biometric security and healthcare monitoring. This update briefly discusses the latest developments and target markets.

Wiliot is developing low-cost, energy-harvesting sensors that enable items to be tracked throughout the supply chain. On July 27 2021 it announced that it had received an investment of $200m from Softbank.

IEE is a major manufacturer of printed pressure sensors, with vehicle seat occupancy sensor being a major market. It has now developed smart insole sensors for shows based on printed electronics.

The increasing adoption of computational image analysis is creating opportunities for many new types of image sensors. One of the most innovative and commercially promising technologies is event-based vision, which is a bio-inspired method of acquiring visual data that promises multiple advantages.

Baidu is a Chinese search engine giant akin to Google. They are heavily involved in the autonomous Robotaxi race and are beginning to bridge the gap from trials to commercial activity in China.

Joanneum Research is an Austrian research center. This profile focuses on the Pyzoflex piezoelectric sensing technology that it has developed, which has applications for measuring pressure and especially high frequency signals. IDTechEx caught up with Business Development Manager Gregor Scheipl to determine the latest developments.

Researchers have developed nanoscale sensors that could be injected into the body to noninvasively track brain activity using light. The approach could one day offer a new way to study the brain or assess patients' brain functioning without the need for surgery or implanted devices.

Freer Logic is an early-stage company that have developed a mechanism for remotely monitoring brain activity, enabling concentration, cognitive load, and fatigue levels to be tracked. It is targeting the automotive sector for driver monitoring, but there are also applications in for training, sleep monitoring and mindfulness.

A new robotic neck brace may help doctors analyze the impact of cancer treatments on the neck mobility of patients and guide their recovery.

The treatment of many medical issues like abnormal gait and muscular disorders require an accurate sensing of applied pressure. In this regard, flexible pressure sensors that are simple, lightweight, and low-cost, have garnered considerable attention. These sensors are designed and manufactured through 3D printing using conductive polymer composites as their building blocks.

Each fingertip has more than 3,000 touch receptors, which largely respond to pressure. Humans rely heavily on sensation in their fingertips when manipulating an object. The lack of this sensation presents a unique challenge for individuals with upper limb amputations.

New and groundbreaking technology inspires hope among people who have lost their sense of touch in the nerves of a limb following amputation or injury. The technology involves a tiny sensor that is implanted in the nerve of the injured limb, for example in the finger, and is connected directly to a healthy nerve.

Electronic skin patches represent one wearable technology product type that is well suited for physiological monitoring. Over the last 18 months, the COVID-19 pandemic has driven a worldwide concerted effort to explore and revise our approaches to patient monitoring and infectious disease management. As with other wearable devices, electronic skin patch products have evolved significantly over this period of time.