Researchers have demonstrated new wearable technologies that both generate electricity from human movement and improve the comfort of the technology for the people wearing them. The work stems from an advanced understanding of materials that increase comfort in textiles and produce electricity when they rub against another surface. Amphiphiles: The Key to Reduced Skin Friction At issue are molecules called amphiphiles, which are often used in consumer products to reduce friction against human skin. For example, amphiphiles are often incorporated…
The device could help scientists explore unknown regions of the ocean, track pollution, or monitor the effects of climate change. Scientists estimate that more than 95 percent of Earth’s oceans have never been observed, which means we have seen less of our planet’s ocean than we have the far side of the moon or the surface of Mars. The high cost of powering an underwater camera for a long time, by tethering it to a research vessel or sending a…
A team of researchers, led by Virginia Tech, has engineered a glove that mimics the arm of an octopus. This work was featured on the cover of Science Advances. A team of researchers led by Virginia Tech’s Michael Bartlett have developed an octopus-inspired glove capable of securely gripping objects underwater. Their research was selected for the July 13 cover of Science Advances. Humans aren’t naturally equipped to thrive in an underwater environment. We use tanks to breathe, neoprene suits to protect and warm our…
Scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a pollen-based ‘paper’ that, after being printed on, can be ‘erased’ and reused multiple times without any damage to the paper. In a research paper published online in Advanced Materials on 5 April, the NTU Singapore scientists demonstrated how high-resolution colour images could be printed on the non-allergenic pollen paper with a laser printer, and then ‘unprinted’ – by completely removing the toner without damaging the paper – with an…
Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Department of Systems Engineering Assistant Professor Tony Pollman, along with university graduates U.S. Navy Lt. Nicholas Bailey and Lt. Christopher Girouard, were issued a provisional patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Feb. 10, for a novel apparatus using a dual-Stirling engine charge and recovery method for liquid air energy storage (LAES) systems. “This is a technology that has the potential to shape things we do in life,” said Pollman. Put simply, the dual-Stirling engine…
Texas A&M researchers are working to show it is possible to mimic the unique mechanical and thermal sensations associated with different surface textures and shapes. High-fidelity touch has the potential to significantly expand the scope of what we expect from computing devices, making new remote sensory experiences possible. The research on these advancements, led by a pair of researchers from the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University, could help touchscreens simulate virtual shapes. Dr….
Withstanding the force of 120 kilometers/hour… Often a fingertip length decides between victory and defeat. When we currently watch a goalkeeper elegantly deflect the ball over the crossbar during the European Championship, we can hardly imagine the forces that act on the fingertips and the danger of injuring oneself in the process. The German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research Denkendorf (DITF) and their project partner T1TAN GmbH are developing effective finger overstretch protection for soccer goalkeeper gloves. Effective finger…
New snowboard from Chemnitz is lighter than comparable boards and can be manufactured far more ecologically – the Department of Textile Technologies uses the dry fiber placement process. The snowboard – every winter sports enthusiast knows it. The first boards for gliding over snow existed as early as 1900, but it was not until 1963 that American surfers brought the feeling of surfing to the snow and developed the original snowboard – the so-called snurfer. A few years later, the…
Advance could pave the way for early warning system on COVID-19 and flu using wearables. Temperature data collected by wearable devices worn on the finger can be reliably used to detect the onset of fevers, a leading symptom of both COVID-19 and the flu, according to a team of researchers from the University of California San Diego, UC San Francisco and MIT Lincoln Lab. Researchers published their results in a paper titled “Feasibility of continuous fever monitoring using wearable devices”…
Wearable soft mask will be useful for new, cutting-edge sleep and psycho-social studies From the team that invented physiology-sensing pajamas at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, now comes a new, lightweight eye mask that can unobtrusively capture pulse, eye movement and sleep signals, for example, when worn in an everyday environment. Senior authors writing this week in the journal Matter are materials chemist and Wearable Electronics Lab director Trisha L. Andrew, with computer scientist Deepak Ganesan and others. They point…
To address some of the issues, University of Illinois researchers focused on one component of the tire–the shear layer, which is just beneath the tread.
The rail system, which curves around the wheelchair, resembles a bicycle frame. A child seat can be attached to it in a few simple steps. “The seat can be…
Stroke sufferers experience muscle weakness or partial paralysis on one side of the body, which greatly impacts how they walk, known as gait. Gait asymmetry is…
Man is a warm-blooded animal. If it gets too hot for him, he can tune down his body temperature. This feat is achieved by an evolutionarily refined “AC system”…
According to a global analyst firm called CCS Insight, wearable electronics will be a $34 billion industry by 2020. Wearable chemical sensors currently in…
Researchers of the Chemnitz University of Technology develop tough electronic for sport and medical science
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