EU Projects
tommi.remonen@acreo.se
mats.robertsson@acreo.se
Acreo’s involvement in EU projects results in excellent opportunities for collaborative work with other partners with complementary or competing skills and technologies. Acreo’s technologies could then also be evaluated and used in other contexts.
For a number of years Acreo has been involved in several EU projects within the area of Organic Electronics. Acreo’s main focus is R2R manufacturability and hence mass-produced electronics. But what would you like to do with new inexpensive electronic functions possible to implement everywhere? Participation in EU projects enables a broader user perspective.
ACCORD
Within the ACCORD project several interactive devices were developed and tested, i.e. active electronic functionalities were added to “everyday objects”. These objects would eventually facilitate for people to construct, administer and manage future interactive home environments, i.e. help the everyday human to administrate their home environment loaded with distributed computing power. This was achieved for example by supplying ambient information sources such as paintings on the wall with embedded displays made by printed updateable displays based on organic electronic materials, and then programming functions using jigsaw puzzles with embedded printed ID codes in each piece.
An example is the ID puzzle. The work was inspired by ethnographic studies of the home and the common activities that occur within homes and gave good feedback on what types of interactive functionalities that make sense.
The Paper Puzzle Editor utilizes Acreo´s printed ID technology. This editor aims at creating an interface to the underlying “computer space” that is not perceived as a computer interface. Each component is represented as a physical puzzle piece; the puzzle pieces and the ID codes are possible to print in your home desktop printer, and an action is created through connecting these pieces in a left-to-right order on-top of a “reader table”. Each puzzle piece is associated with one or a plurality of ID codes. In the case of having a plurality of ID codes the selection button on the puzzle piece needs first to be pressed, i.e. each tag could be set up to have different meanings for each different individual within a household.
SuperInks
Another ID technology developed within the SuperInks project utilizes an invisible (or barely visible) conductive pattern printed over (or under) the artwork on a paper substrate. This pattern just encodes locations and is detected by a simple pen monitoring the surface resistance either by movement over a small area – ‘swiping’ - or holding over a region for a brief moment – by ‘pointing’.
The pattern is printed by Acreo using conductive, barely visable, inks. This faintly visible code on top of an artwork printed surface provides the necessary conductivity to be detected by the sweeping pen. Tests for the conducting inks regarding robustness and environmental factors, such as humidity and temperature, were developed. As only location information is encoded on the paper substrate there is a great freedom for application developers, designers, publishers or other content providers to associate the position coding with any action or service developed.
The conducting code printed within the SuperInks project (Note that the code was developed within the Paper++ project) is a 1D Bar-Code based on Manchester Coding, a well-recognized and robust method.
In the use of the final SuperInks demonstrator the location at the encoded paper is observed by the computer as the pen is swept. In this case relevant feedback to the user is given via a computer screen.
The SuperInks main project results can be summarized as follows:
- A printed pattern of conducting inks was possible to deposit on (or actually within) different areas of the graphic print, including artwork, text, graphics and ‘empty’ regions
- The printing of the pattern was made to cover the entire image surface of the paper.
- The detection process showed to be simple using one single sweep action, by a simple natural action requiring no particular skill.
- The detection process had high success rates (around 80%).
These different results were met by the use of conductive printable inks based on PEDOT/PSS together with Acreos knowledge in enhancing adhesion, scratch resistance etc.
PaperWorks
Within the PaperWorks project the partners will undertake a range of technical, design and empirical activities in order to develop a robust augmented paper solution that could be integrated with a published product. Acreo will print conductive patterns similar to those described above for the SuperInks project as well as print newly developed enhanced code patterns. This location coding will be coupled to some new approaches, such as integrating active paper graphics (Acreo’s display technology) to provide feedback from the paper surface to the user directly. The partners will develop the additional resources to support augmented reading and writing using these new concepts.
SUSTAINPACK
Packaging is an area where organics electronics has the potential to provide new exciting solutions. Acreo is taking part in the EU project SUSTAINPACK which gives large possibilities to explore this potential together with a number of European partners.
The overall objective of the SUSTAINPACK research and development activities is to develop and implement a Sustainable Packaging Tool Platform based on renewable resources, giving innovative properties to packaging, thereby offering new value added packaging options for packaging users and for consumers. The Tool Platform comprises New Innovative Material Properties and New Innovative Process Developments to transform these materials into new packaging solutions. A goal is also to establish the European forest industry cluster as the dominant player in the packaging area.
Subproject “Communicative Packaging”, where Acreo is an essential partner among totally 10 partners, has as overall goal to develop technologies that will furnish packages with possibilities for information exchange, e.g. within a distribution chain. Sensors, new imaging effects, electronic codes and wireless communication are elements of this ambitious general aim.
These new electronic and optical effects or devices should be realized by low cost printing of organic electronics and optics preferably directly onto the fiber based packages.
Acreo’s part in this research deals at present with some basic functional elements needed; sensors for temperature, relative humidity and time, all giving “electrical” signals that should be read and interpreted by other printed organic electronic circuits. Promising results have been achieved for the individual sensors although many challenges remain to integrate the functions in a printed working device. The versatile PEDOT:PSS polymer material system that can be used for conducting, semi-conducting and dielectric (insulating) purposes has been essential as “material platform” for many of the sensors and circuits developed so far. The long-term goal is a printed ultra-low cost temperature, relative humidity logger intended for e.g. transport packages of perishables like vegetables and fruits. The sensor systems should contain logistic information that can be updated wirelessly within the distribution chain. The logger device should either be printed directly on the package or be a printed label. The clock-function should primarily be of timer-type, but also more advanced digital clock-circuits should be developed. Imaging and display functions (simple and addressable) as well as RFID-like functions will follow later in the project. A common goal with other “organic electronics” projects at Acreo is to demonstrate roll-to-roll printing of the final devices.
Within the subproject Communicative packaging Acreo and parners is cooperating with the aim to integrate new electric and electronic functions in the paper, such as electrically conducting modified cellulose fibers. Also “hidden memories” within the paper bulk are under development.
As is readily seen the general technology of organic electronics is opening a large field of challenging and exciting possibilites to create new functions that probably will reshape old familiar products as well as provide a number of new products that we in the future will see all around in everyday life.
|
The ACCORD project
2000 - 2003
Scope: To explore how everyday life can be supported and enhanced through the use of active functions added to “everyday objects”. Their use and how they could be made to interact, within your home environment, was investigated. Together, these objects could form new people-friendly environments in which the computer-as-we-know-it has no role. The aim is to arrive at new concepts and techniques, where for example Acreo’s printed electronics could be used, and find out what future applications can be developed out of these.
Partners: SICS , University of Nottingham, Acreo AB
www.sics.se/accord
The SuperInks project
2003 - 2004
Scope: To develop a printed “barcode pattern” of invisible conducting inks possible to print on top of the graphic print, including artwork, text, graphics and ‘empty’ regions to enable a reader pen to detect the code. The detection process needs to have high success rates (around 80%) and be non-obtrusive, environmentally stable and robust.
Partners: Arjo Wiggins, King’s College London , Acreo AB
www.paperplusplus.net
The PaperWorks project
2005 - 2008
Scope: PaperWorks is concerned with developing distinct technologies for interleaving paper documents with digital materials. Within the project Acreo will develop and print a more dense conductive information pattern by using new materials and new pattern designs. Acreo also aims to provide people with new forms of functionality such as printing of feedback displays directly on the paper surface.
Partners: Anoto AB, Arjo Wiggins, Brunel University, ETH Zurich, Malmö University, Pearson Education, King’s College, London
www.paperworks.org
The SUSTAINPACK project
2004 - 2008
Scope: Based on renewable and recyclable material a packaging platform will be developed. The implementation of the platform will provide new innovative properties to packaging, thereby offering new value added packaging options for packaging users and consumers.
Partners: 35 partners from 13 countries representing packaging research organisations, academia and industry.
www.sustainpack.com
|