You've certainly tapped into a vein where there's lots of interest, Karen, judging by the comments here. I'll use my comment to put in a plug for the MEMS Industry Group (MIG), of which you're Managing Director.
I'll also redux the call for people to come to the MEMS in Sports session at Design News's Sensors in Design conference, which is part of DESIGN West the last week of March in San Jose.
During the past years supplying our MEMS enabled motion capture suit I and my colleagues at Xsens have seen some crazy innovative sports applications enabled by MEMS motions sensors. How about capturing full body 3D motion during actual skydiving, snowboarding and Kung-fu Jump Dragon performance for the 2008 Olympic opening ceremony! (http://www.xsens.com/en/entertainment/live-entertainment/2008-beijing-olympic-games) more videos of various application here: http://bit.ly/yETuvi and here http://bit.ly/AphLK7
I will discuss these applications and the tech behind in the upcoming Sensors in Design event. Hope to see some of you there!
MEMS based accelerometers,. printhead of Ink jet Printers, MEMS based sensors and the latest is MEMS based barometers. Feynman was right, There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom...
I would also guess that as MEMS moves out of the lab and ends up in devices used by consumers, you would also see a much larger volume of production. Have you seen much larger volume in the production in the MEMS world in recent years?
@Charles - that is so cool and I love the fact that you wrote that story in 2007. Thanks for sending me the link. And what's exciting now is that it's not just major league athletes (and Sumo wrestlers) who can benefit from the intelligent sensing of MEMS - it's folks like you and me - who want to use MEMS technology to work out "smarter" and more effectively. I look forward to seeing more examples of MEMS in Sports as well as MEMS improving quality of life (through sport). And thank you again for the post!
Thanks @Rob for the comment. Yes, I think what makes MEMS in Sports different now is that it is enabling much more than a "gee whiz" type of application (as in "gee whiz, look at what I just did in the lab") to applications that are designed to better interface with users in their environments (not just in labs). It's again, another example of the importance of design is so critical to the adoption of MEMS.
When Benedetto Vigna developed ST's first MEMS based accelerometer it was meant as a component for the entertainment industry beause it was used in Nintendo. See the impact that product has made.
Karen, I remember seeing that Freescale demo using the golf club.At the time, it was very Out-of-Box innovation, and still is.It reminds me of my R&D role at Motorola 10 years ago when many engineers were innovating with new emerging technologies and applying them as prototypes to every-day life applications (the origin of the "App" --- Marketing further coined the phrase, "Looking for the nextKiller App").
Various technologies are constantly maturing out of labs across the world, and the design engineering community is tasked with creating innovative uses for them in everyday life.Your list of MEMS applications falls into that category.So it's frustrating to me how mainstream advertising has brainwashed the public into thinking that "Apps" are only software downloads found on iPhones.
"Say you want to change the public's paradigm of what creative design engineering can do with MEMS .... There's an APP for that!"
For 3D printing to make the jump from rapid prototyping to manufacturing, engineers will need to find easier ways to move products from their CAD screens to their printers.
Gigabit and PoE are two networking technologies moving ahead in tandem as industrial users power remote Ethernet devices such as IP security cameras at 1,000 Mbps over existing CAT5 cable.
New versions of BASF's Ecovio line are both compostable and designed for either injection molding or thermoforming. These combinations are becoming more common for the single-use bioplastics used in food service and food packaging applications, but are still not widely available.
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For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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