Revolutionizing the process of heart monitoring, researchers have developed a wearable e-tattoo that provides continuous heart monitoring outside of a clinical setting.
A team of researchers from The University of Texas at Austin has created a flexible and wearable medical device that could transform the fight against heart disease. This device called an electronic tattoo or e-tattoo, can be attached to the chest to continuously monitor the heart outside of clinical settings.
The e-tattoo is wireless and mobile, as it has small active circuits and sensors linked by stretchable interconnections. The device weighs just 2.5 grams and can be worn comfortably with a medical dressing.
A team of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory has developed a new scientific tool called Polybot that combines artificial intelligence with robotics. This tool is set to revolutionize polymer electronics research by speeding up the discovery process of materials with multiple applications, from wearable biomedical devices to better batteries, according to a release.
Polymer electronics are the future of flexible electronics. They are efficient and sustainable, used to monitor health and treat certain diseases, among other things. However, the current methods used to prepare these polymers for electronics can take years of intense labor. To achieve targeted performance, there are an overwhelming number of potential tweaks, from spiking the fabrication recipe with different formulations to varying the processing conditions.
“Delivering drugs this way could offer less systemic toxicity and is more local, comfortable, and controllable,” said Canan Dagdeviren, an associate professor in MIT’s Media Lab and the senior author of the study, in a statement.
Wearable devices like Spiderman’s suit that are thin and soft, yet also feature electrical and optical functionalities? The answer lies in producing novel materials that go far beyond the performance of existing materials and developing technology that enables the precise control of the physical properties of such materials.
Separating transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) into a single layer just like graphene makes it transform into a thin, two-dimensional (2D) film material that exhibits the characteristics of highly performing semiconductors. By stacking two disparate TMD layers, different combinations of TMD types and stacking methods can produce unique properties.
For this reason, 2D semiconductors based on heterostructures are attracting attention as an important next-generation material for the electronics industry throughout academia and industries around the world. However, it is still quite challenging to commercialize them due to the difficulty of controlling with precision the physical properties of their quasiparticles.
“Introducing the first soft material that can maintain a high enough electrical conductivity to support power hungry devices.” and self-healing.
The newest development in softbotics will have a transformative impact on robotics, electronics, and medicine. Carmel Majidi has engineered a soft material with metal-like conductivity and self-healing properties that, for the first time, can support power-hungry devices.
“Softbotics is about seamlessly integrating robotics into everyday life, putting humans at the center,” explained Majidi, a professor of mechanical engineering.
Engineers work to integrate robots into our everyday lives with the hope of improving our mobility, health, and well-being. For example, patients might one day recover from surgery at home thanks to a wearable robot monitoring aid. To integrate robots seamlessly, they need to be able to move with us, withstand damage, and have electrical functionality without being encased in a hard structure.