How NTU-made technologies are changing our future
by Lester Kok / Illustrations and animations by Vivian Lim
My sensitive robot
Now
Super-thin sensors printed on paper or flexible plastic sheets could become the new skin for robots. Over a hundred times more sensitive than today’s pressure sensors, they can make robots touchsensitive to “feel” knocks, bumps and even hugs. A working prototype of the sensor integrated into a robotic hand can grip delicate objects such as an egg.
Future
Working alongside robots with ultrasensitive skin could improve safety or work efficiency, such as in situations that require handling of delicate or fragile items. You also wouldn’t mind working with a robot that apologises when it accidently bumps into you. Lightweight tactile sensors could also be used in wearable health-monitoring medical devices of the future.
Easy-breezy COVID-19 test
Now
Need to get tested for COVID-19? Blow into this breathalyser for 10 seconds, then cap it shut and slot the tube-like device into a portable reader. By analysing the organic compounds captured on the breathalyser’s chip, the device can tell in less than two minutes whether a person is infected with COVID-19 with 95% accuracy.
Future
Everyone can have their own pocket breathalyser. With features like replaceable sensor chips, personal breathalysers can be “read” after each breath test to verify if someone is infected with COVID-19. Future breathalysers might even be able to test for different illnesses to prevent community spread of diseases.
AI can help your heart
Now
A new diagnostic software powered by artificial intelligence can analyse electrocardiograms to uncover heart abnormalities in patients. This could help doctors detect the early onset of heart disease in patients with almost 99% accuracy. Heart specialists could use the new tool as part of their arsenal of diagnostic techniques that include magnetic resonance imaging.
Future
With cardiovascular disease on the rise in Singapore, this AI-powered tool could be deployed in annual health screenings where ECGs are taken and automatically analysed to identify heart abnormalities. It could also be used in wearable devices, such as smart watches, to detect or track heart conditions.
This story was published in the Oct-Dec 2021 issue of HEY!. To read it and other stories from this issue in print, click here.
