piezoelectric
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Students develop a smart bra for early breast cancer detection
Students from the Swiss university EPFL have developed a smart bra designed to detect breast cancer in its earliest stages. They believe it's the first piece of clothing that can be used for cancer prevention. They even claim that it's comfortable and that the tech is "nearly imperceptible."
Ricoh invents super-efficient power-producing rubber
No, this is not an image of a delicious Fruit Roll-Up, it's actually a unique new flexible material from Ricoh that can create electricity from pressure and vibration. Dubbed "Energy-Generating Rubber," this piezoelectric mat combines the best features of existing ceramic and polymeric materials; high energy output and flexibility, respectively. In fact, this new rubber produces just as much power as ceramic does while surpassing the flexibility of polymeric materials, according to Ricoh. What's more, it is more easily produced than either existing form of piezoelectric.
The US Army's testing clip-on ray gun attachments for its rifles
The energy-blasting G.I. Joe future that we've all been waiting for is steadily getting closer. Not only is the US Army outfitting trucks with increasingly powerful laser systems, it is also looking to provide similar capabilities to its dismounted troops as well. Dubbed "Burke Pulser" attachments after their creator Army Armament Research electronics engineer James E. Burke, these devices utilize a piezoelectric generator and two protruding antennas to generate powerful bursts of electrical. The entire unit fits onto the end of the Army's M4 carbine just as a standard-issue flash suppressor does.
Despite its looks, this 3D printed violin (probably) won't kill you
It might not be a Stradivarius, but the violin you see above is pretty impressive on its own merits. For starters, it's 3D printed and only has two strings. And that's to say nothing of its appearance; this thing looks like it'd be right at home on The Citadel in Mass Effect. The Piezoelectric Violin (as it's officially called), was concepted by a pair of architects who tell BBC that the impetus for its creation was realizing that the challenges of their day jobs aren't all that different from those faced by composers and musicians. It's still playable by "anyone" too, despite its wild looks. One of its designers tells BBC that the difference between how it and a traditional violin sounds is akin to that of a classical guitar versus an electric Gibson Les Paul. That is, similar, but still pretty different.
Smart body panels will let you know when someone dents your car
Ever come back to your car to find that someone dinged it while you were away? You might have a better chance at catching the culprit in the future. Germany's Hella is developing a smart body panel that uses a grid of foil-like pressure-sensitive electronic sensors (plus special algorithms) to detect when someone dents or scratches your vehicle. It can even tie into onboard cameras and GPS to both record where the car was and get some video evidence, so you can show that someone else's botched parking job wrecked your ride. Of course, this might also work against you. Insurers could use dent alerts to hike your rates on the fly, and rental agencies could penalize you for damage before you've even returned to the lot.
Researchers create a headset to turn your jaw into a tiny power plant
We're no strangers to projects that try to capture the power of the human body, but here's one with a peculiar twist. A pair of researchers from Montreal's École de Technologie Supérieure have cooked up a headset that, while extremely goofy-looking, can harness the power of your mighty jaw muscles while you chew, gab on the phone and stress-grind your teeth into a fine powder.
Tiny power plant can charge a pacemaker through heartbeats
Pacemakers and other electronic implants are a pain to keep running -- patients need surgery to replace batteries, and body-powered generators aren't currently strong enough to charge these devices. They may be far more practical in the future, though, as American and Chinese researchers have developed a piezoelectric power plant that could charge an implant all by itself. The prototype machine generates electricity through the movement of nanoribbons that are tiny enough to be sewn into an organ's surface, but efficient enough to power a pacemaker solely through heartbeats. The device could also keep implants going through the motion of a diaphragm or lung. Scientists still need to test the long-term viability of this miniscule energy factory; there's no guarantee that it's safe enough to last for years inside a human body. If it proves useful, however, it could save implant recipients from repeatedly visiting the hospital for maintenance.
Kyocera piezoelectric film speaker delivers 180-degree sound to thin TVs and tablets (update: live photos)
The thinner our devices become, the less room there is for speakers and other thicker components. Kyocera has a solution, however: it just modified its Smart Sonic Receiver conduction technology for use with conventional, over-the-air audio. The company's new Smart Sonic Sound device still relies on a piezoelectric actuator, but vibrates against a film to generate as much volume as a regular speaker in a far thinner (under 1.5mm thick) design. The new speaker might even sound better than its traditional counterparts. It delivers full volume and quality in a 180-degree listening arc, and it's responsive enough to recreate very subtle noises. Smart Sonic Sound is already shipping in LG's 55-inch curved OLED TV, and Kyocera expects it to reach laptops, tablets and other devices where interior space is valuable. Update: Our colleagues at Engadget Japanese have posted their first-hand look at Kyocera's speaker technology, complete with a gallery of live photos; we've posted two of them here.
Artificial sense of touch gets smarter, lets robots really feel
The verdict's still out on whether or not androids dream of electric sheep. But their ability to feel? Well, that's about to approach levels of human sensitivity. We're of course talking about the sense of touch, not emotions. And thanks to work out of Georgia Tech, tactile sensitivity for robotics, more secure e-signatures and general human-machine interaction is about to get a great 'ol boost. Through the use of thousands of piezotronic transistors (i.e., grouped vertical zinc oxide nanowires) known as "taxels," a three-person team led by Prof. Zhong Lin Wang has devised a way to translate motion into electronic signals. In other words, you're looking at a future in which robotic hands interpret the nuances of a surface or gripped object akin to a human fingertip and artificial skin senses touch similar to the way tiny hairs on an arm do. What's more, the tech has use outside of robotics and can even be levereged for more secure e-signature verification based on speed and pressure of a user's handwriting. And the best part? These sensors can be manufactured on transparent and flexible substrates like the one pictured above, which allows for various real-world applications -- just use your imagination. Pretty soon, even robots will have the pleasure of enjoying the touch... the feel of cotton and maybe even hum that jingle to themselves, too.
Kyocera Smart Sonic receiver transmits call audio through cranial vibrations (video)
Kyocera's Smart Sonic receiver and tissue conduction technology have been around for some time, but this year at MWC, we had another chance to test it out. In case you didn't know, the receiver's a ceramic piezoelectric actuator that takes the place of a phone's speaker to let listeners hear phone calls in even the loudest environments. We got to test it out with a Kyocera Torque, and well... trust us, you'll want to see (and hear) the results in the video after the break.
Fujifilm's flexible Beat speaker diaphragm lets us roll up the rhythm
While there's been no shortage of rollable displays, rollable speakers are rare -- the softness needed for a bendy design is the very thing that would usually neuter the sound. Fujifilm's new Beat diaphragm manages to reconcile those seemingly conflicting requirements. The surface depends on a polymer that stays soft when the surface is being curled or folded, but hardens when subjected to the 20Hz to 20kHz audio range we'd expect from a speaker. Piezoelectric ceramics, in turn, provide the sound itself. The Beat system doesn't have any known customers, but Fujifilm has already shown some creative possibilities such as a folding fan speaker or the portable, retractable unit shown above. If we ever see the day when we tuck a set of speakers into our pockets as neatly as we do our phones, we'll know who to thank.
GE uses dual piezo jets to keep a Core i7 laptop cool, play a merry tune (hands-on video)
Cooling fans are the bane of many a laptop user's existence. The tiny things are often over-taxed right out of the box and, after a year or two worth of dust and detritus gets in them, they complain more and more loudly. As much as we hate them, engineers hate them more, as they take up precious space beneath the keyboard and draw precious juice from the battery. GE has a better solution, so-called dual piezo cooling jets. They're just 1mm thick, could consume a fraction of the power of a fan and contain no moving parts -- at least, not in the traditional sense. As a demo of their potential, GE created a prototype Core i7-powered laptop, cooled only by these jets. Click on through for our impressions.
Researchers harness static electricity from your twitchiness to charge batteries
If you're the fidgety type, new research from Georga Tech may one day turn your nervous energy into a fully charged cellphone. The scientists, who previously borrowed piezoelectric power from walking, created static electricity generated from movement between plastic and metal, similar to the way a balloon can be electrified by rubbing it on your hair. The charging area was greatly increased by patterning the surfaces on a nanoscale level, allowing this "tribolectric effect" to be multiplied and converting up to 15 percent of the mechanical energy into electricity (so far). About 50 common materials could be paired to create the material, and a 2 x 2-inch patch could conceivably be worn as an armband and used to charge up a cellphone battery. So far the tech works fine in the lab, but it remains to be seen if real world vibrations can generate enough energy to make it practical. While you're waiting, though, feel free to stock up on coffee.
Murata Walking Measurement System hands-on
Sure, Nike+ will track your gait and help you tell your friends just how that couch-to-2K training is working for ya, but wouldn't it be nice if it your shoes were smarter? That's partly what Murata is enabling with its Walking Measurement System, on display at CEATEC 2012. It's a piezoelectric sensor that sits in the sole of your shoe and detects pressure at different points. The readings from this sensor, transmitted over low-power Bluetooth 4.0, could enable a number of applications including precise shoe fitting for runners, posture detection for dancers and even golf swing analysis for duffers. Murata had this built into a lovely pink Asics sneaker that was a bit too small for us to try on, but we did try squeezing another sensor that fed its data in real-time to an app running on iPhone. Cool concept? For sure, but for now it's just that and nothing more. Mat Smith contributed to this report.
Georgia Tech develops self-charging battery that marches to the owner's beat
One of the last times we saw the concept of a self-recharging battery, it was part of a high-minded Nokia patent whose ideas still haven't seen the light of day. Researchers at Georgia Tech are more inclined to put theory into practice. Starting from a regular lithium-ion coin battery, the team has replaced the usual divider between electrodes with a polyvinylidene difluoride film whose piezoelectric nature produces a charging action inside that gap through just a little pressure, with no outside voltage required to make the magic happen. The developers have even thumbed their noses at skeptics by very literally walking the walk -- slipping the test battery under a shoe sole gives it a proper dose of energy with every footstep. At this stage, the challenge mostly involves ramping up the maximum power through upgrades such as more squeezable piezoelectrics. Georgia Tech hasn't progressed so far as to have production plans in mind; it's nonetheless close enough that we could see future forms of wearable computing that rarely need an electrical pick-me-up.
Georgia Tech scientists developing biology-inspired system to give robot eyes more human-like motion
Having difficulty getting your robot parts to work as planned? Turn to nature -- or better yet, look inside yourself. After all, where better to find inspiration than the humans that the machines will one day enslave, right? Researchers at Georgia Tech have been working to develop a system to control cameras in robots that utilizes similar functionality as human muscle. Says Ph.D. candidate Joshua Schultz, The actuators developed in our lab embody many properties in common with biological muscle, especially a cellular structure. Essentially, in the human eye muscles are controlled by neural impulses. Eventually, the actuators we are developing will be used to capture the kinematics and performance of the human eye. The team recently showed off their work at the EEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics in Rome. When fully developed, they anticipate that the piezoelectric system could be used for MRI-based surgery, rehabilitation and research of the human eye.
Hands-on with Immersion HD Integrator hi-fi haptics
It was just over a year ago when we met with the folks from Immersion, and they showed us a prototype handset packing its HD haptics technology. Since that time, the piezoelectric actuator that makes the tactile magic possible has gone into mass production, and the first commercial device packing such hi-fi haptics, the Pantech Element, hit store shelves. Immersion's got greater aspirations for its tactile tech, however, and its new HD Integrator platform aims to put high fidelity haptics in every handset. We got to sample the HD haptics goods once again and chat with Immersion about the new platform and its technology, so head on past the break to see what the company has in store.
Murata Tactile Controller TV remote hands-on (video)
What's that, you're not into changing the channel with that boring old remote, or even with your voice? Murata's ground-up Tactile Controller brings a real twist to every couch potato's favorite gadget. Quite literally. The company's prototype remote uses touch-pressure pads and pyroelectricity to analyze the position of a piezoelectric film. In English: a plastic film produces tiny amounts of electricity at various voltages (output as data) when it's forced into a variety of positions, letting you change the channel simply by twisting the controller in either direction, or flexing to adjust volume. The model we saw was a plastic sandwich of sorts, and also included four solar cells, capable of producing one milliwatt of electricity -- just enough to power the device. We put the controller through its paces at the company's CEATEC booth, adjusting a TV's volume and channel up and down, and, well, up and down, since that's just about all you can do with the thing. The model we saw only supported five twist positions and four bending positions in each direction, so it could theoretically adjust those two basic settings more quickly based on how much pressure you put on the film, but realistically can't do much beyond that. The Tactile Controller on display here is more of a proof of concept of sorts -- with the concept being the plastic film technology itself, and not the battery-free remote control, which the company decided would be the most visual application for testing its new film, though not necessarily the most practical. Understandably, Murata doesn't have any plans to release the remote that we saw today, but you can jump past this to see us do the twist.%Gallery-135771%
Piezoelectric system turns your balmy breath into pungent power
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have come up with a way to produce electricity from just about the most renewable source known to man -- his own breath. It's all thanks to a plastic microbelt developed by engineers Xudong Wang, Chengliang Sun and Jian Shi. Made of a material known as polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), this belt produces an electric charge whenever low-speed airflow passes over it and causes it to vibrate -- a result of that vaunted piezoelectric effect. Eventually, Wang and his team were able to tinker with their system to the point where it could produce enough current to charge small electronic devices. "The airflow of normal human respiration is typically below about two meters per second," Wang explained. "We calculated that if we could make this material thin enough, small vibrations could produce a microwatt of electrical energy that could be useful for sensors or other devices implanted in the face." The researchers say their technology could be used to power smaller biomedical devices like blood monitors and pacemaker batteries, which typically don't demand vast amounts of energy. No word yet on when this system could make its way to the mainstream, but we'll be waiting with bated breath.
Murata wants to take couch potatoes by the hand and do the remote control twist
We've seen Murata's marketing future, and it involves either Chubby Checker or that '90s Helen Hunt movie. The Japanese electronics maker's cooked up a flexible sensor device that'll let you twist and shout bend your way to remote television control. Dubbed the Leaf Grip Remote Controller, the prototype UI design makes use of a special pyroelectric effect-free piezoelectric film that translates twisting into channel changing, rapid twisting to swap video inputs, bending for volume control and rapid bending to power the set on / off. The company's also outfitted the non-clicker (which we'll henceforth refer to as "the Twister") with a photovoltaic cell, giving it the ability to charge -- from your man cave? Kinks in its planning aside, sample shipments are expected to be delivered sometime next spring. But, before they rush this product out to market, may we suggest the inclusion of a sports-induced rage-proof mode?