At Microsoft Research's Devices and Networking Summit today, the company unveiled and discussed some of its efforts regarding the future of printable and foldable electronics.
Microsoft Research has showed off two projects, both related to the future of electronics. In one of these projects, the team developed electronics that could be constructed out of textile materials. This enabled the embedding of touch functionality straight into the foldable prototype material without any loss of structural integrity to the electronics hardware.
In other words, Microsoft developed foldable, wearable electronics. This technology could be used in the next generation of wearable devices but it could also be introduced into completely new products and fields: medicine, furniture, buildings and so on. And while this isn’t completely new, the techniques used and the technologies developed seem very promising.
In the same spirit, the team also developed a transparent organic conducting polymer that can be directly printed onto materials, including flexible ones, to create circuits or sensors. The ink, which uses organics, carbon nanotubes and silver nanoparticles can instantly create a circuit board that’s printed, either by inkjet printer or even by a regular pen. Not only could this be used in schools by children and hobbyists learning about electronics, but just like with the technology described above, the potential for this is huge.
There are already products on the market that make use of all of these new techniques and technologies, but you can also be sure that these breakthroughs will be key to our connected futures.
Editor's Note: This article was updated with the printed circuit image. It was also updated to reflect the fact that such products are already available in the market.
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