Sensors, Haptics & Displays

As CES passed for another year we saw another wave of announcements and demonstrations without the topic reaching the limelight it will soon command.

Last year IDTechEx Research asserted that the transparent conductive film industry had entered a period of intense consolidation. We have been proved right as the consolidation period is beginning to take its first round of high profile victims.

The UHD Alliance has launched a new standard for TV. Our analyst explains why it will help new display technologies based on quantum dots.

Printed and flexible electronics are beginning to proliferate, with a variety of components and devices coming to market. Several end-user verticals are expected to benefit from the host of advantages these technologies offer and the automotive sector is no exception.

The first industrial robot, Unimate, went into operation at a General Motors plant in 1961. Over the next few decades the use of industrial robot arms in the automotive industry matured.

Whilst the majority of wearable technology products sold today still fit with the components-in-a-box design, 2015 has been a record year for investment in smart clothing and e-textile products.

Ever since Sony launched the first television with quantum dots in 2013, these highly engineered materials have been back in the spotlight.

Ten short years ago 3D printing was almost the exclusive remit of rapid prototyping. Nobody was putting 3D printing into mass production back then.

Defining and exploiting value proposition is an essential part of wearable technology's journey from early adopters into mass markets, and sensor platforms enable the key value proposition in most wearable devices today. This is why made-for-wearable sensors are being developed around the world, and this is why IDTechEx Research finds that made-for-wearable sensors will represent 42% of all sensors in wearable devices in 2026, up from a measly 7% in 2015.

Flexible electronic devices are starting to experience significant proliferation, with more and more devices with innovative form factors being brought to market, from small components such as disposable sensors that have been in the market for quite some time now, all the way to new flexible smart phones currently being demonstrated by consumer electronics giants like Samsung and LG.