Innovation in Flexible Soft Sensor Technology

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Flexible electronics have various applications in various fields. Flexible soft sensor technology is disrupting both established and emerging industries by making it possible to measure true angular displacement. The technology applications encompass the fields of medical wearables, Internet of Things (IoT), consumer electronics, autonomous vehicles, as well as motion research.

The Salt Lake City-based start-up Bend Labs is offering a unique series of soft sensors made that can bend, stretch and conform to any contour. Their sensors can measure one or two axes of bending, and unlike IMU and resistive-based plastic sensors, Bend Labs’ sensors have zero drift, opening the door to ultra-stable, high resolution, low power angular measurements, according to the company.

For example, these soft sensors are already seeing success in the medical device market, where they have been applied to devices that remotely monitor patient motion throughout the physical therapy process, as reported by insideunmannedsystems.com.

“One of the first questions we get asked is how our sensors are different from other soft sensing technology out there,” said Colton Ottley, CTO of Bend Labs. “We’ve built our sensors from the ground up to address the drawbacks of other motion sensing systems. We’re fundamentally different in that we accurately measure angular displacement bi-directionally while rejecting other signals such as stretching or extraneous bending.”

According to the company, their soft sensors have the ability to accurately digitize both human and non-human motion. It can be easily integrated with various products.