Wearable Technology

On 17 - 19th of March 2021 IDTechEx attended (virtually) the Canadian Printed and Flexible Electronics Symposium), known as CPES2021. This premium article reviews a selection of the most interesting and/or commercially relevant talks

As increasing numbers of devices gain electronic functionality, many new applications will require some sort of display. This growth in functional, wirelessly connected devices is an exciting technological transition that could radically reshape how we interact with previously inanimate objects.

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A research team has recently developed a water-tube-based triboelectric nanogenerator that can efficiently convert various irregular and low-frequency mechanical energies, including ocean wave energy, into electricity, providing a new avenue for the development of "blue energy".

Investigating the fields of Component and Electrode Attachments in the Wearables Industry

An electronic textile with a large-area display that could have applications in communications, navigation and healthcare is described in Nature. The textile is flexible, breathable and durable, making it an ideal material for practical uses.

Market research companies of all sizes generally pitch the 2020 market for Internet of Things at $200-£500 billion. They cite the leading players as companies with around that in total sales! These companies have mostly been large for quite a while so have their traditional businesses collapsed and been replaced by this great new thing? There is no evidence for that. So what do the pundits say these massive sums consist of?

Many athletes, from football players to equestrians, rely on helmets to protect their heads from impacts or falls. However, a loose or improperly fitted helmet could leave them vulnerable to traumatic brain injuries. Now, researchers have developed a highly sensitive pressure sensor cap that, when worn under a helmet, could help reveal whether the headgear is a perfect fit.

Electronic textiles offer revolutionary new opportunities in various fields, in particular healthcare. But to be sustainable, they need to be made of renewable materials. A research team now presents a thread made of conductive cellulose, which offers fascinating and practical possibilities for electronic textiles.

Nanoengineers have developed a "wearable microgrid" that harvests and stores energy from the human body to power small electronics. It consists of three main parts: sweat-powered biofuel cells, motion-powered devices called triboelectric generators, and energy-storing supercapacitors. All parts are flexible, washable and can be screen printed onto clothing.