E-Skin
Wouldn't it be great if you could roll up your iPad when finished with it and tuck it under your arm like newspaper. Well that futuristic idea might not be far off...
Wouldn't it be great if you could roll up your iPad when finished with it and tuck it under your arm like a newspaper? Well that futuristic idea might not be far off...
Scientists at the Department of Energy's Berkeley Lab in the US have created a latticework of carbon-nanotube enriched semiconductors so pliant that they can be wrapped around a baseball. The new technology could be developed into an e-skin capable of knowing and responding to where it is touched, as well be used to make a flexible and stretchable electronic device.
This development could also see smart sensing find its way into a number of different surfaces and materials over the coming years. We might see flexible solar panels, sensor-aware medical bandages or even e-skin being used by the military under armour. It could also prove disruptive for many other sectors, such as e-textile research. Present e-textile's have been limited by the significant cost barriers of flexible computing but have already innovatively incorporated computational sensing/ubiquitous computing into our quotidian fabrics and haberdashery. As ever, we look forward to seeing how people and industries will use the new technology.
Discussion