Electronics Design
When asked about the likely early adopters and where in the market they will come from, Kramer predicts a universal appetite for these technologies. “Wearables are all the buzz right now. I can imagine funding for development of wearable technology coming from both industry and government sources. We have not yet isolated one market or application that we would like to pursue, given the infancy of our technology.” Kramer explains that she is not
yet considering taking her research to market and states: “This is a major distinction between industry and an academic research setting. Rather than focusing on commercialisation, we are interested in expanding what is possible and redefining the wearable and robotic realm of possibility.” With that in mind, what’s next for
Kramer and her team at Purdue? “We will continue to pursue manufacturing, material performance, and system- level control challenges as they pertain to soft, active systems,” she says. “In particular, we believe that fabrics will play a large role in the future of soft and wearable robots, and could be employed in applications such as active clothing, active joint braces or wearable interfaces. “By treating clothing as a field of
engineering, it can be transformed from passive equipment to active machinery, assisting its wearer by enhancing strength, improving stamina or preventing injury. As fabrics are already heavily integrated into our daily lives, robotic fabrics will be natural for people to wear and interact with, both minimising discomfort and maximising efficiency.
lthough Kramer’s wearable concepts are some way away from mass production, she is contemplating how to make them synergistic with existing textile manufacturing methods. For instance, she uses a sewing machine to integrate shape memory alloy wire into fabrics.
A
In the short-term, our proposed work will enable wearable, dynamic fabrics that promote health and mitigate injury, without hindering mobility. “We also envision future extensions
of this work approaching fabrics that are responsive to external stimuli, fabrics that can self-deploy protective armour, fabrics that incorporate wearable interfaces and electronics such as communication devices, wire harnesses and conformable antennas, and assistive fabrics for motion aid and prolonged endurance.” l
Precise eddy current sensors T
he new eddyNCDT 3001 is a cost-effective eddy current sensor with housing that has to date only been reserved for inductive sensors and proximity sensors. This compact sensor comes with integrated electronics including temperature compensation, offering an excellent price/performance ratio, as well as easy operation. The high measurement
accuracy and linearity as well as the high frequency response rate of 5kHz are outstanding characteristics compared to other sensors in the same price class. The sensors are factory-calibrated for ferromagnetic and non-ferromagnetic materials in the measuring range of 4mm. The sensors are protected to IP67. As the sensors are easy to use and cost-effective, they are particularly suitable for standard production in OEM applications. The new DT3001 series opens up new application fields for the Micro-Epsilon product range based on the eddy current principle. Eddy current sensors from Micro- Epsilon measure displacement, distance, position, oscillations, vibrations, etc. Non-contact eddy
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current sensors offer extremely precise measurements where sub-micron accuracy is required. Modifications to the standard eddy
current sensors are often required, particularly for mid-size and large series. What can be modified? Sensors can be adapted in many different ways to suit customer-specific applications. For example, changes to the cable, sensor material and design can be made, as can changes to the controller. Customised sensors can be produced efficiently, which results in considerable cost reductions. l
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