Wearable Tech

We’ve all seen those films where robots take over, where half-human half-machine creations are evil and other weird or frankly peculiar portrayals of a disturbing future where we are slaves to our robot masters. When robots look and act too much like us, it’s understandably disconcerting – and there’s even a name for this.

A fear of all things android is quite natural though and related to our fundamental understanding of control. As a species, we are primed to fear our inability to control the future. So we say let’s relax – and perhaps embrace it?

We can be robots

In the not-too-distant future, you’ll be able to dump that bag full of tech and cables and become the hardware and software yourself. So time to drop the fear and embrace change, folks!

We’re talking about e-skin. Smart, wearable technology is already a thing, with printable circuit fabric (PCF) making waves for the last few years. Researchers at the University of Cambridge announced they’d managed to print washable, stretchable, and breathable electronic circuits into fabric back in 2017. This means we will start to see environmentally friendly, printed circuits, such as personal health and fitness technology, wearable energy-harvesting and storage in the shops pretty soon!

Say goodbye to awkward tech, weighed down bags and pockets, and wave a digital digit at the new era of artificial ‘e-skin’, a step beyond the ever-advancing possibilities of wearable tech.

Scientists and researchers are looking into how flexible, bendable and stretchable electronic circuits can be applied directly to the skin.

Practically speaking, while it might be awesome to have some smartphone functionality built into your arm, what’s even cooler is that this cutting-edge tech might help replace feeling for people who have suffered burns or those that have nervous system issues.

Put simply, imagine an electronic tattoo.

Way back in In 2004, Japanese and US researchers revealed a pressure sensor circuit made from pre-stretched and thinned out silicon strips that could be applied to the forearm.

Of course, inorganic materials such as silicon are inflexible – but skin is flexible and stretchy. So researchers are investigating electronic circuits made from organic materials (such as special plastics or graphene (as mentioned above) that conduct electricity) for e-skin apps.

Read the full article here,  https://bit.ly/2JPWBSS