Sensor Technologies: Prepping Kids for the Future

Sensor Technologies: Prepping Kids for the Future

• APRIL 11, 2020

The world has come a long way from the days of the first robot. From natural language generation to artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things to self-driving cars, we’ve outpaced ourselves in technology.

The world of sensors is no less shaken, going from a niche domain to being applied in virtually everything. Look around you and you’ll probably spot something that runs on sensors perhaps the proximity sensor on your family car or the motion sensors in automated lighting.

The Humble Roots of the Sensor

Electronic sensors were first used almost exclusively in robots, to mimic the senses humans possess. Ultrasonic sensors function as eyes, sound sensors pick up noises like living ears, and touch sensors identified textures much like out fingertips do.

In just a few years, the world has left nascent electronic sensors far behind. There are huge steps being taken every day to better the working of sensors and innovate new ones. For instance, new nanowire-based technology has allowed sensors to become that much more sensitive and selective in being able to cut through the noise. The materials, too, are undergoing changes they’re becoming faster, smaller, and smarter to boot.

The Future of Sensor Technologies

It’s full speed ahead for innovations in sensor technologies in the coming years. Advanced sensors can improve the world and revolutionize the way we did things, to say the least.

The first trend we can expect to see is miniaturization. As we grow increasingly connected as a planet, countless applications can be made more efficient through sensors. These will need to be small and able to work together without tanking performance, so the industry will likely head towards realizing this.

We’ll also find that the application of sensors will move beyond the collection and sensing of data but into the interpretation of that data for insights. This will no doubt be fuelled by digitization, which is taking data from the ground into the cloud.

Different types of sensors will come into the picture as this revolution takes firm hold. Pressure sensors will permeate the consumer market, making its way into drones, home appliances, and wearables such as watches and glasses. Temperature and monitoring sensors will make their way into healthcare, helping medical professionals monitor blood pressure, brain waves, even real-time health stats.

The Final Word

At Modo, we’re shifting gears to prepare the children of today for a sensor-packed future. StepUp is an intermediate level course designed to deep-dive into sensor technologies and impart theoretical and practical knowledge about what’s in the market and what’s to come. StepUp will allow the change-makers of tomorrow to step up today.

Modo Edulabs envisions a world where our children are digitally savvy and technologically literate. We prepare kids for the 21st century century through our innovative online courses and custom-designed products.