IDTechEx

Harvesting Energy from Wind When Walking

Most of the wind available on land is too gentle to push commercial wind turbine blades, but now researchers in China have designed a kind of "tiny wind turbine" that can scavenge wind energy from breezes as little as those created by a brisk walk.

Using Wearable Technology to Prevent Kidney Stones

Kidney stones are a painful and expensive medical problem, and people who suffer from kidney stones once are likely to experience them a second time. Recurrence can often be prevented if patients increase urine output by increasing the amount of water that they drink. Though this may seem easy, fewer than 50% of people who have suffered from kidney stones are able to drink the recommended amount of fluids.

Tool Helps Clear Biases from Computer Vision

Researchers have developed a tool that flags potential biases in sets of images used to train artificial intelligence systems. The work is part of a larger effort to remedy and prevent the biases that have crept into AI systems that influence everything from credit services to courtroom sentencing programs.

The Next Stage of the Electricity Grid

The electricity market is evolving to allow a higher integration of variable energy sources and a new class of devices is approaching the market to satisfy this necessity.

Delektre

This is an update with Antti Backman, CEO of Delektre. The company is involved in the printed and flexible electronics market, including a ring product using flexible, organic electronics to create a non-invasive optical sensing technique for a variety of physiological parameters.

Ossia

This is a background profile covering Ossia, a prominent company in the field of RF charging and energy harvesting. The bulk of the content was written in 2017, but key figures are updated to 2020.

Rolls Royce Completes Ground Testing of World's Fastest Electric Plane

Rolls-Royce has completed testing of the ground-breaking technology that will power the world's fastest all-electric plane. All the technology has been tested on a full-scale replica of the plane's core, called an 'ionBird', including a 500hp electric powertrain powerful enough to set world speed records and a battery with enough energy to supply 250 homes.

Rapid 3D Printing with Visible Light

3D printing has driven innovations in fields ranging from art to aerospace to medicine. However, the high-energy ultraviolet light used in most 3D printers to cure liquid resins into solid objects limits the technique's applications.

PepsiCo Targets 100% Renewable Electricity Globally

PepsiCo Inc has announced a new target to source 100% renewable electricity across all of its company owned and controlled operations globally by 2030 and across its entire franchise and third-party operations by 2040.

Wearable Sensor Industry Worth $2.5bn in 2020 New IDTechEx Study Finds

The wearable sensor industry will be worth $2.5 billion in 2020, having tripled in size since 2014. This comes despite the significant economic challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused a reduction in the total revenue this year.

Opening Eyes to a Frontier in Vision Restoration

A revolutionary cortical vision device that could one day help restore vision to the blind, is being prepared for world-first human clinical trials in Melbourne.

Nano-C

Nano-C produce, functionalize, and integrate SWCNTs and Fullerenes process. IDTechEx spoke with Victor Vejins (CEO) and Darren Bischoff (Business Development Director)

Molecular Rebar Design LLC

Molecular Rebar Design LLC enable the functionalization and integration of carbon nanotubes for various applications. IDTechEx spoke with Dr Clive Bosnyak (CTO and Co-founder).

Accensors

Accensors have developed a wide range of printed and flexible sensors, capable of measuring parameters such as pH, temperature, pressure, ion concentration, level, conductivity and more. Its main target market is wearable/healthcare applications. Accensors' primary business model is developing bespoke sensors, including those that can determine multiple parameters.

Cemvita Factory

Cemvita Factory is a technology start-up that uses synthetic biology to develop carbon negative technologies. The company has three primary applications - carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), biomining, and biomanufacturing in space. In September 2020, IDTechEx Technology Analyst Dr Michael Dent spoke with Cemvita Factory CEO Moji Karimi about the company's activities in CCUS.

Prophesee

Prophesee has developed hardware and associated software for event-based vision sensors that is based on how the human eye records and interprets visual inputs. The sensors facilitate machine vision by recording changes in the scene rather than recording the entire scene at regular intervals. Advantages include better low light response (<1 lux) and dynamic range (>143dB), reduced data generation (10-1000x less than conventional approaches) leading to lower transfer/processing requirements, and higher temporal resolution (microsecond time resolution, i.e. >10k images per second time resolution equivalent)

Electrolyte Additives: A Key Area of Li-ion Patent Activity

Li-ion batteries are starting to near their performance ceiling. Delving into the trends being seen in patent applications and filings can provide insight into the key areas of innovation in Li-ion batteries and the areas of development favored by key players.

3D Printed Solid State Batteries

This could be a game changer for the development of solid-state batteries. An automated 3D printing production process could save up to 70% of the traditional Capex used to produce solid-state batteries. Solid-state batteries are also safer as they do not use flammable liquid electrolytes that are also more harmful to the environment.

Unmanned Robotic Vessels for the US Navy

Lockheed Martin will provide a study for a proven, integrated and capable payload ship, able to patrol for extended durations, as part of the US Navy's Large Unmanned Surface Vessel competition.

Mimbly AB Chooses Ynvisible's Energy Efficient Displays

Ynvisible Interactive Inc is pleased to announce that Mimbly Ab has chosen Ynvisible's energy-efficient electrochromic displays as the display solution for its product the Mimbox.