Wearable Technology

Europe's leading event on printed and flexible electronics, Printed Electronics Europe 2018, opens its doors in less than three weeks to over 2,500 global visitors.

A wearable medical patch measuring the beat-to-beat variation in heart rate is a promising device for the early detection of hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, in type 1 diabetes.

TDK have recently been making many significant applications to build a diverse and vertically integrated team in many aspects of electronics and sensing. We spoke to two recent aquirees at their booth at CES: InvenSense and Toshiba Life.

Electrically conductive films that are optically transparent have a central role in a wide range of electronics applications, from touch screens and video displays to photovoltaics. These conductors function as invisible electrodes for circuit wiring, touch sensing, or electrical charge collection and are typically composed of transparent conductive oxides. But, they have a weakness. Most transparent conductors are mechanically stiff. Stretching the inelastic material causes it to break apart and lose electrical functionality. This inability to support strain greatly limits the role of these existing materials for emerging applications in wearable computing, soft bioelectronics, and biologically-inspired robotics. The displays and touchscreens used in these next-generation technologies will require transparent conductors that are soft, elastic, and highly stretchable. Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Carmel Majidi and his research team have developed conductive thin-films that have the unique combination of properties needed for these next-generation technologies: high electrical conductivity, visual imperceptibility, low mechanical stiffness, and high elasticity.

IDTechEx Launchpad will showcase innovations from 21 start-up companies at the IDTechEx Show! held in Berlin, Germany on 11-12 April 2018. All winners will be showing a new working prototype or product, many for the first time.

When it comes to soft assistive devices — like the wearable exosuit being created by the Harvard Biodesign Lab — the wearer and the robot need to be in sync. But every human moves a bit differently, and tailoring the robot's parameters to an individual user is a time-consuming and inefficient process.

Solar cells have great potential as a source of clean electrical energy, but so far they have not been cheap, light, and flexible enough for widespread use. Now a team of researchers has found an innovative and promising way to improve solar cells and make their use in many applications more likely.

A team of researchers have developed a mechanically robust conductive coating that can maintain performance under heavy stretching and bending.

There is a flood of new electronic and electrical devices reintroducing poisons very similar to those in tobacco smoke, diesel fumes, asbestos and other killers. There has been no tracking of what is arriving, assessing toxicity and likely prevalence. Uniquely, the new IDTechEx report, "Toxigen Materials and Alternatives in Electronics/ Electrics 2018-2028" now does just that.

Cephalopods—which include octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish—are masters of disguise. They can camouflage to precisely match their surroundings in a matter of seconds, and no scientist has quite been able to replicate the spectacle. But new research brings us a step closer.

A new prototype for wearable tremor suppression gloves has a team of researchers believing real change is on the way for the more than 6 million people in the world afflicted by Parkinson's disease.

Inspired by the human eye, researchers have developed an adaptive metalens that is essentially a flat, electronically controlled artificial eye. The adaptive metalens simultaneously controls for three of the major contributors to blurry images: focus, astigmatism, and image shift.

The IDTechEx Wearable Europe conference and exhibition, to be held on 11-12 April in Berlin Germany, brings together the ecosystem global brands with leading edge technology developers, focussing on the commercial growth opportunities for wearable technology.

A group at PARC have developed an oral biosensor within a mouthguard for sensing in saliva. IDTechEx attended a presentation on this work by David Schwartz at 2018FLEX in Monterey, CA.

A new type of flexible, wearable sensor could help people with chronic conditions like diabetes avoid the discomfort of regular pin-prick blood tests by monitoring the chemical composition of their sweat instead.

A new ultrathin, elastic display that fits snugly on the skin can show the moving waveform of an electrocardiogram recorded by a breathable, on-skin electrode sensor. Combined with a wireless communication module, this integrated biomedical sensor system - called "skin electronics" - can transmit biometric data to the cloud.

$950-million investment positions Canada for an innovation boom in high-growth sectors

A group at Georgia Tech have been developing organic photodetectors, developed as options that can be more feasible for scaling over large areas than the silicon-based incumbent. IDTechEx attended the presentation by Canek Fuentes-Hernandez at 2018FLEX in Monterey, CA.

IDTechEx spoke with Dr Linh Lee, CEO of Bonbouton, about their progress in developing specialized footwear for the prevention of diabetic foot ulcers. They also presented at 2018FLEX in Monterey, CA in February 2018.

GE Global Research presented their work producing a wearable sensor for monitoring hydration. IDTechEx attended their presentation at 2018FLEX in Monterey, CA.