TPT January 2021

G LOBA L MARKE T P L AC E

G LOBA L MARKE T P L AC E

Rise of the service robots A report from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) shows that, in terms of value, sales of medical robotics accounted for 47 per cent of the total professional service robot turnover in 2019 (robotic surgery systems are the most expensive type in the segment). Sales of medical robots rose by 28 per cent, reaching a new record of $5.3bn with the potential to reach $11.3bn by 2022. Roughly 90 per cent of medical robots are supplied by European and American manufacturers. Worldwide, the sales value of professional service robots increased by 32 per cent to $11.2bn in 2018-2019. The report, “World Robotics 2020 – Service Robots” anticipates a further boost as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, with high demand for robotic disinfection solutions, and robotic logistics technology for factories and warehouses. The market value of logistics robots increased by 110 per cent to $1.9 billion, and a continued strong turnover growth of 40 per cent or more per year seems possible, given increasing automation within the ‘smart factory’. IFR president, Milton Guerry, said: ”The investment in service robots for logistics in manufacturing processes is amortised rapidly. Assuming 24-hour operation, the investment in service robots for logistics may be repaid within two to three years, and often much quicker. Given a 15-year lifetime, operating costs are around 5 per cent of the annual investment. Highly developed systems often provide operational availability in the 98 per cent plus range.” The use of mass-produced service robots for personal and domestic tasks, such as vacuuming, floor cleaning, or lawn mowing, increased by 34 per cent with over 23.2 million units sold during 2019. The value of sales increased to $5.7bn. “We expect sales of both professional and personal service robots will continue to increase strongly,” Mr Guerry concluded.

Reported in Science Advances, the fibre printing technique produces high-sensitivity, low-cost sensors that can be attached to a mobile phone to collect breath pattern information, monitoring sound and images simultaneously. First author Andy Wang, a PhD student from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, used the fibre sensor to test the amount of breath moisture leaked through a face covering under respiratory conditions such as normal breathing, rapid breathing and simulated coughing. The sensors were found to significantly outperform comparable commercial sensors, particularly in monitoring rapid breathing to replicate shortness of breath. Measuring the amount and direction of breath moisture that leaks through face coverings can act as an indicator of the weaker areas in the protection. The team found that most leakage from fabric or surgical masks comes from the front, especially during coughing, while most leakage from N95 respirators (designed to achieve a very close facial fit) comes from the top and sides. “Sensors made from small conducting fibres are especially useful for volumetric sensing of fluid and gas in 3D, compared to conventional thin film techniques, but, so far, it has been challenging to print and incorporate them into devices, and to manufacture them at scale,” said Dr Yan Yan Shery Huang, who led the research. Huang and her team 3D printed the composite fibres, which are made from silver, or semiconducting polymers or a combination of the two. The printing technique creates a core- shell fibre structure with a high-purity conducting fibre core, wrapped by a thin protective polymer sheath. As well as respiratory sensors, the printing technique can be used to make biocompatible fibres of a similar dimension to biological cells, which enables them to guide cell movements and sense this dynamic process as electrical signals. The team plans to develop the fibre printing technique for a number of multi-functional sensors for mobile health monitoring, or for bio-machine interface applications. In a statement, Mr Huang said: “Our fibre sensors are lightweight, cheap, small, and easy to use, so they could potentially be turned into home-test devices to allow the general public to perform self-administered tests to get information about their environments.” Fur ther developments in the exploration of graphene A team of physicists from University of Arkansas has successfully developed a circuit capable of capturing graphene’s thermal motion and converting it into an electrical current. “An energy-harvesting circuit based on graphene

Mater ials research 3D printed fibre sensors, for health monitoring and more

Researchers from the UK’s Cambridge University have used 3D printing techniques to make electronic fibre sensors, said to perform beyond the capabilities of current, conventional film-based devices. The transparent conducting fibres are 100 times thinner than a human hair and could have applications in health monitoring, Internet of Things devices and bio- sensing.

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JANUARY 2021

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