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Smaller, faster, cheaper.
Those are the forces constantly driving innovation, particularly in the electronics field. Computers are part of everything now — our phones, cars, refrigerators, and the age of wearable electronics is not that far off.
One of the technologies that’s making those advances possible is flexible electronics, and one of the researchers on the forefront of that frontier is Mandakini Kanungo, a research scientist at the Xerox Research Center in Webster.
“Flexible electronics are a disruptive technology,” she said.
The concept is pretty straightforward — electronic devices that can bend or stretch into any shape. Electronic circuits are printed directly onto thin substrates durable enough to protect delicate circuitry from the stresses of being stretched and folded. Instead of being etched on silicon the circuits are created by placing conductive inks onto plastic or even paper.
Kanungo said that folks can see these printed electronics today in toys and games, but we’re starting to see them in more practical applications, like ultra thin television displays and curved lighting built into walls and ceilings.
The future applications are mind boggling. Picture a tablet computer that you can roll up and put into your pocket, or a heart rate monitor on an adhesive sticker the size of a nickel. It could revolutionize the field of personal medicine.
“Imagine smart bandages that can monitor your wound and tell you when it’s going to heal,” she said. “You could even surgically implant a sensor directly inside the human brain.”
Kanungo just returned from the National Academy of Engineering’s 18th annual U.S. Frontiers of Engineering symposium. It’s an invitation-only gathering of emerging engineering leaders who gather to share cutting edge research. She was one of a select group of young engineers ages 30 to 45 invited to participate.
They gathered to brainstorm specific problems in a variety of areas, such as designing and analyzing social networks, cognitive manufacturing, reducing the dependence on fossil fuels and flexible electronics.
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