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Category: wearables

New biosensor technology could improve glucose monitoring

A wearable biosensor developed by Washington State University researchers could improve wireless glucose monitoring for people with diabetes, making it more cost-effective, accurate, and less invasive than current models. The WSU researchers have developed a wearable and user-friendly sensor that uses microneedles and sensors to measure sugar in the fluid around cells, providing an alternative to continuous glucose monitoring systems. Reporting in the journal The Analyst, the researchers were able to accurately detect sugar levels and wirelessly transmit the information to a smartphone in real time.

“We were able to amplify the signal through our new single-atom catalyst and make sensors that are smaller, smarter, and more sensitive,” said Annie Du, research professor in WSU’s College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and co-corresponding author on the work. “This is the future and provides a foundation for being able to detect other disease biomarkers in the body.”

Measuring glucose levels is important for diabetes, helping to keep patients healthy and preventing complications. Continuous glucose monitors on the market require the use of small needles to insert the monitor, and people can get skin irritation or rashes from the chemical processes that are done under the skin. Furthermore, they’re not always sensitive enough.

Origami-inspired ring lets users ‘feel’ virtual worlds

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are technologies that allow users to immerse themselves in digital worlds or enhance their surroundings with computer-generated filters or images, respectively. Both these technologies are now widely used worldwide, whether to experience video games and media content in more engaging ways or improve specific training and assist professionals in their daily tasks.

To date, VR and AR have primarily focused on what users see and hear, primarily improving the quality of digital experiences from a visual and auditory standpoint. The sense of touch, on the other hand, has been in great part overlooked.

Researchers at Sungkyunkwan University, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and Istanbul Technical University recently developed a new wearable device that could allow users to also realistically “feel” tactile sensations aligned with what they are experiencing in a virtual world. This device, introduced in a paper published in Nature Electronics, is an origami-inspired ring that measures forces on a user’s skin, pushing back onto the finger to produce specific sensations.

Think of the Hume Band as your personal longevity sherpa

Most wearables tell you what you did.
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Shanghai scientists create computer chip in fiber thinner than a human hair, yet can withstand crushing force of 15.6 tons — fiber packs 100,000 transistors per centimeter

A group of researchers has built a computer chip in a flexible fiber thinner than an average human hair. The team from Fudan University in Shanghai says that their Fiber Integrated Circuit (FIC) design can process information like a computer, yet is durable enough to be “stretched, twisted, and woven into everyday clothing.” Use cases touted by the authors of the paper include advancements in the fields of brain-computer interfaces, VR devices, and smart textiles. This cutting-edge FIC design was apparently inspired by the construction of the humble sushi roll.

Flexible electronics have come a long way in recent years, with malleable components for power, sensing, and display readily available. However, so-called flexible electronic devices and the wearables made from them still usually contain components fabricated from rigid silicon wafers, limiting their applications and comfort. The Fudan team says that their FIC can remove the last vestiges of electronic rigidity “by creating a fiber integrated circuit (FIC) with unprecedented microdevice density and multimodal processing capacity.”

Brain-inspired AI helps soft robot arms switch tasks and stay stable

Researchers have developed an AI control system that enables soft robotic arms to learn a wide repertoire of motions and tasks once, then adjust to new scenarios on the fly without needing retraining or sacrificing functionality. This breakthrough brings soft robotics closer to human-like adaptability for real-world applications, such as in assistive robotics, rehabilitation robots, and wearable or medical soft robots, by making them more intelligent, versatile, and safe. The research team includes Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology’s (SMART) Mens, Manus & Machina (M3S) interdisciplinary research group, and National University of Singapore (NUS), alongside collaborators from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore).

Unlike regular robots that move using rigid motors and joints, soft robots are made from flexible materials such as soft rubber and move using special actuators—components that act like artificial muscles to produce physical motion. While their flexibility makes them ideal for delicate or adaptive tasks, controlling soft robots has always been a challenge because their shape changes in unpredictable ways. Real-world environments are often complicated and full of unexpected disturbances, and even small changes in conditions—like a shift in weight, a gust of wind, or a minor hardware fault—can throw off their movements.

Brain-inspired hardware uses single-spike coding to run AI more efficiently

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, such as the models underpinning the functioning of ChatGPT and various other online platforms, has grown exponentially over the past few years. Current hardware and electronic devices, however, might not be best suited for running these systems, which are computationally intensive and can drain huge amounts of energy.

Electronics engineers worldwide have thus been trying to develop alternative hardware that better reflects how the human brain processes information and could thus run AI systems more reliably, while consuming less power. Many of these brain-inspired hardware systems rely on memristors, electronic components that can both store and process information.

Researchers at Peking University and Southwest University recently introduced a new neuromorphic hardware system that combines different types of memristors. This system, introduced in a paper published in Nature Electronics, could be used to create new innovative brain-machine interfaces and AI-powered wearable devices.

Drug dose monitoring with a DNA-based microneedle sensor

A wearable DNA-based sensor similar to a continuous glucose monitor can accurately and safely detect vancomycin concentrations in the body.

Aptamer-coated microneedle patch can detect amounts of the antibiotic vancomycin in real time for at least 12 hours by .

In its second-largest ever acquisition, US tech giant acquires Q.ai amid effort to break into wearables market; 30% of firm’s staff were called up to reserve duty on Oct. 7…

…Q.ai is tight-lipped in public about its technology, but patents it filed show tech being used in headphones or glasses using ‘facial skin micro movements’ for nonverbal communication, according to the FT.

Apple’s vice president of hardware, Johnny Srouji, said in a statement that the startup is ‘pioneering new and creative ways to use imaging and machine learning.’

The move may be a component of Apple’s strategy for ‘wearable’ products, such as smart glasses. Software that reads facial expressions could potentially make way for a hands-free user interface that doesn’t require talking out loud, reports noted.

Unlocking defect-free graphene electrodes for transparent electronics

Transparent electrodes transmit light while conducting electricity and are increasingly important in bioelectronic and optoelectronic devices. Their combination of high optical transparency, low electrical resistance, and mechanical flexibility makes them well suited for applications such as displays, solar cells, and wearable or implantable technologies.

In a significant advancement, researchers led by Professor Wonsuk Jung at Chungnam National University in the Republic of Korea have introduced a new fabrication technique called one-step free patterning of graphene, or OFP-G, which enables high-resolution patterning of large-area monolayer graphene with feature sizes smaller than 5 micrometers, without the use of photoresists or chemical etching.

Published Microsystems & Nanoengineering, the method addresses a key limitation of conventional microelectrode fabrication, where lithographic processes often damage graphene and degrade its electrical performance.

MXene nanoscrolls could improve energy storage, biosensors and more

Researchers from Drexel University who discovered a versatile type of two-dimensional conductive nanomaterial called MXene nearly a decade and a half ago, have now reported on a process for producing its one-dimensional cousin: the MXene nanoscroll. The group posits that these materials, which are 100 times thinner than human hair yet more conductive than their two-dimensional counterparts, could be used to improve the performance of energy storage devices, biosensors and wearable technology.

Their finding, published in the journal Advanced Materials, offers a scalable method for producing the nanoscrolls from a MXene precursor with precise control over their shape and chemical structures.

“Two-dimensional morphology is very important in many applications. However, there are applications where 1D morphology is superior,” said Yury Gogotsi, Ph.D., Distinguished University and Bach professor in Drexel’s College of Engineering, who was a corresponding author of the paper.

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