Wearable Technology

This premium article delves into the Laval Virtual Europe 2022 event, held from 12th-14th April 2022, in particular looking at AR/MR/VR software and solutions. It will cover key companies from the event, including Qualcomm, Avatar Medical, Advanced Realtime Tracking, X Sens, and more.

Innovation roadmap for the report 'Gas Sensors 2022-2032: Technology, Opportunities, Players, and Forecasts'.

Innovation roadmap for the report 'Gas Sensors 2022-2032: Technology, Opportunities, Players, and Forecasts'.

This premium article delves into the Laval Virtual Europe 2022 event, held from 12th-14th April 2022, in particular looking at AR, MR, and VR hardware, players, and trends. It will cover key companies from the event, including Lynx Reality, Lenovo, Microsoft, Ultraleap, and Actronika.

Researchers are working to enhance the current gas-pressurized suits to make them more accommodating for astronauts exploring planetary surfaces.

In the quest to build smart skin that mimics the sensing capabilities of natural skin, ionic skins have shown significant advantages. They're made of flexible, biocompatible hydrogels that use ions to carry an electrical charge. In contrast to smart skins made of plastics and metals, the hydrogels have the softness of natural skin. This offers a more natural feel to the prosthetic arm or robot hand they are mounted on, and makes them comfortable to wear.

Lips are famously sensual but, together with the gums and tongue, they are also surprisingly sensitive, second only to the fingertips in nerve density. Researchers have exploited this latter characteristic to devise a practical new way for people to receive tactile feedback in virtual worlds.

Researchers have taken a major step forward in the development of sensitive electronic skin with integrated artificial hairs. E-skins are flexible electronic systems that try to mimic the sensitivity of their natural human skin counterparts. Applications range from skin replacement and medical sensors on the body to artificial skin for humanoid robots and androids.

IEE is a major manufacturer of printed pressure sensors. At LOPEC 2022, the company demonstrated its smart footwear sensing solutions, which enable athletes or rehab patients to monitor their gait.

Semiconducting nanomaterials with 3D network structures have high surface areas and lots of pores that make them excellent for applications involving adsorbing, separating, and sensing. However, simultaneously controlling the electrical properties and creating useful micro- and macro-scale structures, while achieving excellent functionality and end-use versatility, remains challenging.

Advanced Realtime Tracking (ART) offers image identification and object tracking software and devices to facilitate manufacturing processes, including via augmented reality. IDTechEx discussed a demonstration of the latest capabilities at the Laval Virtual 2022 Conference.

SCHOTT AG is a large multinational company whose core is in specialty glassmaking. SCHOTT's product range encompasses virtually every area where glass is used, from telescope mirror materials to historical glazing for building restoration — this profile, however, focuses on its activities around augmented reality (AR), particularly in optical waveguide substrates. SCHOTT's head office is in Mainz, Germany.

Existing therapies for healing wounds include dressings, negative pressure bandages, growth factor-based and anti-inflammatory drugs, debridement, and ultrasound treatments. But even under the best conditions, the average time for complete wound closure is 12 weeks using these methods.

New solar cell devices that are cheaper and easier to make could soon make their way to market thanks to materials. Traditional solar cells are made from silicon, which has good efficiency and stability, but is relatively expensive to make and can only be manufactured in stiff panels. Perovskite solar cells offer an intriguing alternative; they can be printed from inks, making them low cost, high efficiency, thin, lightweight and flexible.

Inkron is a Nagase Group company which develops and manufactures siloxane resins and formulations, primarily for optical devices and packaging. It also produces materials for printed electronics and provides a growing range of OEM services. Inkron has considerable expertise in materials for wafer-level optics, such as the nanoimprint lithography resin required for many optical waveguides. Inkron provides wafer-level optics process development, process optimization, and piloting services. The company is headquartered in Espoo, Finland.

Visometry develop and offer object tracking and image identification software, primarily for industrial quality control applications. IDTechEx caught up with the company at the Laval Virtual 2022 Conference.

SenseGlove produces gloves for AR/VR applications that enable both motion capture and haptic feedback. IDTechEx caught up with the company at the Laval Virtual 2022 conference to see the product in action.

4Dviews is an early-stage company that designs and sells physical studios for generating 3D video footage, enabling the typical avatar in virtual 3D space to be replaced with an accurate 3D image. IDTechEx caught up with 4D views at the Laval Virtual conference in 2022.

Xsens is a well established company that offers motion capture capabilities by placing inertial measurement units (IMUs) at multiple locations across the body. Applications include animation, ergonomics testing, and AR/VR. IDTechEx caught up with Xsens at the Laval Virtual 2022 conference.

An estimated 15 million babies are born prematurely every year, posing a significant risk to both maternal and neonatal health. The EU funded WISH project promotes a novel tool for monitoring the risk of preterm labour at home.