Researchers have previously made transparent variations on other major classes of electronics, including transistors and the components used to control displays.
Researchers have previously made transparent variations on other major classes of electronics, including transistors and the components used to control displays, but not yet batteries.
"Existing classes of electronics are rigid and packaged, leading to bulky strap-on monitors; the new technology would be unobtrusive and practically unnoticed by the wearer, says Roozbeh Ghaffari, cofounder of MC10 (see "Innovators Under 35: Roozbeh Ghaffari").
It could lead to a fundamental shift in the capabilities of many classes of electronics, in the home and in industry.
While the flexible energy harvester works by a different mechanism than her skin sensor, both projects fit with the overall goal Dagdeviren is pursuing as a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard and MIT: creating a new class of biomedical electronics that are far less rigid and clunky than what we use today.
A conformal, bio-interfaced class of silicon electronics for mapping cardiac electrophysiology.
In addition, Samsung Electronics is also working on a new class of consumer electronics devices that are based around DVxplore.
Although tablets, by and large, are not as functional as the average PC, Forrester says that we will see a new class of consumer electronics emerge that will fill that gap: "frames" (effectively docks), which Forrester predicts will become a common way to give tablets more features, more power and link them up to other devices, like TVs, to use them to consume content.
Viventi, J Kimm, D-H; Moss, JD; Kim, Y-S; Blanco, JA; Annetta, N; Hicks, A; Xiao, J; Huang, Y; Callans, DJ; Rogers, JA; Litt, B, A conformal, bio-interfaced class of silicon electronics for mapping cardiac electrophysiology., Science Translational Medicine, vol 2 no.
