Spotlight On
communicate quickly and creatively with their customers.
Another goal is to build an ecosystem that makes e-paper easier to buy, design in and use with any microcontroller. This will expand the already growing range of applications for the technology. We work closely with microcontroller companies to create easy-to-implement solutions for industrial and commercial applications. We were the first e-paper provider to offer customers open source code as part of our philosophy of encouraging the open exchange of information, collaboration and rapid prototyping. We also engage actively with the maker community via the RePaper open source platform we have created at
repaper.org. Makers are wonderful because they are very innovative and selflessly contribute their expertise to making our firmware better. RePaper supports popular development kits including Arduino, BeagleBone, MSP-EXP430G2 LaunchPad, Raspberry Pi and Wyolum AlaMode. Adafruit, which sells RePaper extension boards, has written some great learning guides about how to use the boards.
Where do you see the e-paper applications having the biggest impact?
E-paper is updatable paper that you can write over many, many times. Once you add wireless infrastructure to it, it becomes connected paper, which is
Figure 4: An energy-harvesting e-paper display tag by Toppan
Consider the logistics behind the scenes at a DHL or Fedex hub; there are a lot of different boxes going to different places. When you marry up these boxes with connected e-paper, you enable a box to be self-sufficient and smart so that it can tell you what’s inside, what to do with the product, and where it goes next. We have customers in logistics and manufacturing using our products already in the automotive and electronic industries.
Figure 3: Electronic shelf labels based on e-paper displays are helping retailers communicate quickly and creatively with their customers
particularly versatile. An e-paper display has a better energy profile than an LCD and, using a wireless connection, our devices can be upgraded over time to enhance the user experience. The user interface is defined through software and e-paper displays are very clear and easy to read, even in direct sunlight. They also have a wide viewing angle, just like paper. It’s hard to predict where the technology will have the greatest impact but the diversity of applications is growing by the day. For example, e-paper can be used as labeling on medical devices - a huge bonus for our growing elderly generation who need displays that are clear and easy to read. I’m also very excited about the impact e-paper is having on supply chains in terms of making materials handling and logistics more efficient.
www.cieonline.co.uk
Thousands of other applications are emerging. These range from smart luggage tags to personal identification badges, some of which are used with access control systems. We’ve even seen e-paper used to create smart coffee mugs with built-in displays - users can send text and images to each other’s coffee mugs using a smartphone app.
The number of future applications is limited only by the imagination of product designers.
Could we circle back to how Chi Mei family values influence your thinking?
Chi Mei means ‘uniquely beautiful’ in Chinese and we stand proudly behind the work we do. We grow with our clients and we make sure that the relationship is long term and mutually beneficial. We respect and work with our customers to help them achieve their objectives. My family built the Chi Mei Museum which houses one of the largest private collections of stringed instruments in the world. This is run as a not-for-profit organisation because it is a gift to the people of Taiwan where the Chi Mei Corporation started. We have also built a hospital, which we operate on a not-for-profit basis. Giving back to the community and caring about where you live runs through my family’s core and I pursue these values in business too.
Finally, who is your hero?
I really admired Magic Johnson when he played for the LA Lakers. Whenever he stepped onto the court his game plan wasn’t just to focus on his individual performance, it was about the team. His presence on the court allowed everyone on his team to play better. I feel that there’s a lesson to be learnt there in how to run a company.
www.pervasivedisplays.com
Figure 5: The Chi Mei Museum in Tainan, Taiwan houses one of the world’s largest private stringed instrument collections
Components in Electronics September 2016 35
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