Artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), remote treatments, smart wearables, robotic mobility, and automation. Next to the ongoing evolution of evermore precise images and real-time videos, as well as evermore mobile and compact machines, the recent communication megatrends shift medical technology into the next level of healthcare digitalization.

Medical devices have been around for centuries. Egyptians designed bronze scalpels and lancets almost 5,000 years ago, but today, pacemakers, artificial joints, and 3D-printed implants are the norm, and far more compact and complex.

The medical device industry is experiencing rapid advancements in product design and prototyping as a result of new or improved manufacturing technologies. For example, “additive manufacturing has evolved from a novelty to a robust and mature method, enabling designers and product developers to create complex prototypes quickly and efficiently,” said Jim MacDonald, business development manager for Vaupell, a Constantine, Mich.-based contract manufacturer that provides engineering, design, and manufacturing services to the medical device industry.

A major challenge in self-powered wearable sensors for healthcare monitoring is distinguishing different signals when they occur at the same time.