Novasentis Wins 2018 IDTechEx Award

  • Infrastructure
  • 12.04.2018 08:23 am

Novasentis, a leading developer of film based haptic actuators, announced that it won the IDTechEx 2018 Award for Best New Material for Wearables. The award was presented at IDTechEx's Emerging Technologies show in Berlin on April 11th, recognizing Novasentis' unique and patented polymer based haptic actuators which are being designed into AR/VR controllers, smart watches and other Wearables.

Novasentis has created haptic actuators using Electro Mechanical Polymer (EMP) technology, that are feather lite, paper thin (150 microns), and can vibrate at any frequency (few Hz to KHz).  The Novasentis EMP actuators can be embedded in the surface of any devices to act as a haptic skin capable of providing both localized and meaningful haptic feedback.

Novasentis transitioned from lab to pilot last year and has commenced design activities with several large OEMs on VR/Gaming and Wearable device makers. And its actuators will shortly commence shipping from a mass production factory.

"On behalf of the independent judges and IDTechEx, I congratulate Novasentis on creating a unique haptic materials technology that brings life into AR/VR applications and gaming devices," said Raghu Das, CEO of IDTechEx. "We have been following Novasentis' progress over the years and are delighted to see that they are getting traction in Wearables applications that we believe will continue to grow rapidly in the next three years."

The market for haptic technology is forecasted to grow to nearly $3b by 2027 per James Hayward, Sr. Technology Analyst at IDTechEx, he expects polymer based haptic technologies like that of Novasentis to grow faster than competing technologies.

"We are thrilled to receive the 2018 Best New Materials Award for Wearables from IDTechEx," said Francois Jeanneau, CEO of Novasentis. "We had been working on perfecting our haptic actuator technology and our work has been validated by customer design wins, investment from key supply chain partners and prestigious industry awards such as this one from IDTechEx. On behalf of our entire team of employees, board of directors and supply chain partners, I thank IDTechEx for this honor."

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