When it comes to display technology, HP’s SAIL technology (self-aligned imprint lithography) is being used to create thin film displays that are lighter, thinner, and most importantly, bendable.
When you combine the memristor and the curves lte transparent displays allowed by SAIL, what you get is a super thin and power-efficient tablet that is transparent.
To that, HP intends to bring environmental sensing and augmented reality from the recent purchase of Autonomy, a company that makes an augmented reali product called Aurasma. It hopes to blend the physical world with augmented worlds in this way.
The uses extend to education as well as business. An example given at HP’s Shanghai event earlier this month was of students using a tablet to design a bridge which they could then position virtually onto an existing environment and test for earthquake-resistance and similar.
The SAIL process involves unravelling a roll of plastic on an assembly line and imprinting thin film transistor onto it. This process is not too dissimilar to the traditional printing press and the continuous production makes it more cost effective than sheet-to-sheet batch production.
Self Aligned Imprint Lithography (SAIL) flexible displays
The plastic displays will be used to make everything from foldable displays to wallpaper
The aim is to create tablets, e-books, magazines, and curved/foldable displays. The process will even allow for the creation of wallpaper and devices that can be worn on the wrist.
“It’s very thin, very light and virtually indestructible. If I wore it on my arm and [it] was hit, it wouldn’t break. It would just flex,” he added.
The aim is to combine the two technologies (memristors and flexible displays) to make ultra-thin, light and efficient tablets or “workbooks”, as Apostolopoulos referred to them. HP also plans to incorporate augmented reality by using the Aurasma engine, which it acquired when it purchased Autonomy.
HP is working with partners to commercialise the Memristor technology and it is expected to come to market in 2014/2015. The plastic displays are set to follow a around the same time.
If these prototypes can be executed correctly, they would give HP a boost over rivals, such as Apple and Samsung, who appear to be at the forefront of innovation
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Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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