Wearables

In a proof-of-concept study, North Carolina State University engineers have designed a flexible thermoelectric energy harvester that has the potential to rival the effectiveness of existing power wearable electronic devices using body heat as the only source of energy. Wearable devices used to monitor a variety of health and environmental measures are becoming increasingly popular.

The availability of a large line of connected consumer health products has been announced by Nokia. Completing the transition of products from the Withings brand, Nokia trackers, scales, vital health products and home products will now be available in-store and online through top retailers. Brad Rodrigues, Interim President at Nokia Technologies, said: “Nokia’s global expansion into digital health builds on Nokia&r...

Thanks to an EU initiative, patients suffering from a variety of ailments are slated to benefit from advanced shoes that can send critical feedback to wearers and to those monitoring them. A revolutionary concept in the form of a high-tech set of shoes is showing much promise for patients who are recuperating from debilitating strokes or sports injuries.

A wearable stress monitoring device has been developed by Leti that enables customised recommendations to enhance stress-free travel and indicators for improving public transportation safety. Leti scientists will demonstrate this device, and a smartphone-based mobility observer developed in the Horizon 2020 Programme, at the 12th ITS European Conference in Strasbourg, France, 19th-22nd June.

Stroke patients who learned to use their minds to open and close a device fitted over their paralysed hands gained some control over their hands, according to a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. By mentally controlling the device with the help of a brain-computer interface, participants trained the uninjured parts of their brains to take over functions previously performed by injured areas of the brain, th...

A new series of switches has been announced by C&K, aimed at giving designers of portable electronics the low profile, reliable and long-lasting switches they need to power the next-gen of devices. C&K’s KXT3 series were built to meet the specific needs of those engineers creating hearing aids, smart watches, activity trackers, action cameras and gesture controllers.

VR can relieve the sensation of phantom limb pain. A new test devised by researchers at Aalborg University shows that VR technology can trick the amputee's brain into thinking that it is still in control of a missing limb. If a hand, an arm or a leg is amputated due to accident or disease, eight out of ten amputees experience a feeling of discomfort in the limb that is no longer there. The phenomenon is called phantom limb pain.

Research published in Scientific Reports shows that a heartbeat-like vibration delivered onto the inside of the wrist can make the wearer feel significantly less stressed. Researchers from the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London assessed the calming effects of a new wearable device called doppel - a wristband designed to actively reduce stress by using the intuitive responses that we all have to rhythm, and espec...

A new whitepaper from SmartKem has shown that display power consumption can be cut by at least 50% using their technology platform in mobile display-based devices, ending the inconvenience of daily recharging for smartwatch and mobile phone users across the world. The study shows how SmartKem's truFLEX transistor platform can deliver significant power consumption reductions for display-based devices. These power savings have the potenti...

Specialist in the development and manufacturing of crystal devices, Kyocera Crystal Device (KCD), has announced that it has developed what it claims to be the world’s smallest crystal unit for smartphones, wearables, and other electronic devices. The new CX1008 quartz crystal unit measures 1.0x0.8mm yet delivers the same electrical characteristics as Kyocera’s conventional CX1210 model, enabling it to be adopted without circuit b...