BEWELL project is about developing integration and manufacturing technologies needed for smart skin patch and wrist-device wearable electronics sensing and actuating products. BEWELL project is also about demonstrating three different application use cases.
Wearable electronics belongs to new age consumer electronics together with smartphones, gaming consoles and laptop/tablet computers. Key development focuses of the new devices are better human-machine interfaces, improved connectivity, user-friendly form factors and convenience of use. Internet of things, connected living, quantifed self and smart homes are identifed as the driving trends of this evolution among which especially the quantifed self is clearly driving the wearable electronics. Inside wearable electronics, wrist-worn devices have been the largest segment but body-worn and head-worn devices are expected to grow to similar sized segments.
Intimate skin contact is necessary for reliable sensing and actuation based on sensor results during different levels of activity of the users. Controllable skin contact would be a further improvement in sensing applications. The purpose can be to replace or supplement visual messaging. Therefore, skin patches and associated technologies to enhance the user-device interface also in other types of products such as the wrist-worn ones are of special importance. In BEWELL, we have identified commercially relevant future skin-patch products to be demonstrated. We have also identified a set of critical and versatile technologies that need to be developed for scalable manufacturing and integrated to realize these future products. In particular, the BEWELL project aims to unleash the potential of flexible and wearable electronics for physical and emotional wellbeing by advanced integrated technology components made in Europe.
The overall objectives are as follows.
Demonstration of three different product use cases. Two use cases are skin patches and one use case is a wristband. The skin patches integrate (i) power from primary or secondary battery and a photovoltaic, (ii) visual indicator or display elements, (iii) a decoration layer, (iv) biosignal measurements such as bioimpedance, galvanic skin response, ECG and body temperature and (v) haptic user feedback. Application cases for the patches are in emotional sensing and skin health measurements.
Haptic large-area actuator array integrated on flexible substrate together with organic multiplexing/addressing circuitry combined with IC and later thin-film driver electronics.
Flexible haptics driver based on large-area thin-film IGZO technology will be developed to replace the IC chip of the previous objective on the controller layer in order to enhance flexibility and reduce system thickness and cost.
Skin adhesion technology that provides adequate adhesion and the needed sensing and actuation contacts to the skin.
Flexible Plastic injection moulding of the actuators and sensors.
Flexible primary and rechargeable batteries optimized for the skin-patch use.
Novel electro-active polymer solutions to optimize the comfort of wear.
Integration technolofies to improve the flexibility and stretchability of the wearable solutions.
