Best of Sensors: Aizip and Asahi Kasei win in wearables

The boundaries of human-machine interaction have been redrawn. At the 41st annual Sensors Converge event held from May 5–7 at the Santa Clara Convention Center, the most important  advancements in the electronics ecosystem were brought to light.

 Co-presented by  Fierce Sensors, the Best of Sensors Awards 2026 honored the industry's ultimate pioneers, disruptors, and bold thinkers. Standing out in a crowded field of advanced medical and consumer tech, a joint solution from Aizip, Inc. and Asahi Kasei Microdevices Corporation (AKM) won Best Healthcare & Wearable Solution with their groundbreaking AI Gesture Recognition with Analog Front-End IC for EMG.

Strict Standards and Expert Validation

Earning a Best of Sensors accolade requires surviving a highly competitive evaluation process. An elite panel of expert industry judges—including technical leaders from iconic brands like Apple, Ford, and Bosch—critically reviewed an outstanding volume of international submissions. To determine the winners, products were evaluated based on their innovation, market value, and capability to address critical ecosystem challenges.

The joint solution by Aizip and AKM did more than check these boxes—it solved a foundational hardware and processing riddle that has bottlenecked electromyography (EMG) devices for decades.

Bridging the Gap: Muscle Signals Meet Edge AI

Traditional wearable gesture interfaces rely heavily on optical sensors or inertial measurement units (IMUs), which require clear lines of sight or distinct physical movement.

 EMG bypasses this by translating subtle muscle electrical signals at the wrist directly into reliable, intuitive input commands. This opens massive opportunities for assistive technology, patient rehabilitation, AR/VR interaction, and consumer wearables. However, standard wearable EMG solutions have historically been plagued by bulky setups, high power consumption, and severe motion noise.

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The award-winning platform from AKM and Aizip  dismantles these hurdles. The hardware foundation features a purpose-built analog front-end IC (the AK05611) optimized specifically for EMG signals. AKM’s Muscle Signal Interface IC is engineered for ultra-low-power data acquisition. Crucially, it features built-in Motion Artifact Cancellation (MAC), a feature that cleanly separates vital muscle data from the chaotic background noise caused by basic wrist movement and vibrations.

Once the data is cleaned at the hardware level, Aizip’s ultra-compact, on-device AI gesture recognition engine takes over. Operating entirely at the edge, this tiny machine learning model interprets complex bio-signals instantly, allowing for fluid control without needing to offload data to an external processor or the cloud.

Empowering Next-Generation Wearables

The judging panel recognized that this collaboration achieves what the market has long demanded: a watch- or wristband-sized form factor that delivers precise control without bulky equipment. By keeping power consumption low and noise rejection high, Aizip and AKM have provided a commercial blueprint for natural hand-and-wrist gesture capture. It is a transformative technical leap that promises to redefine the future of digital accessibility and medical wearables alike, earning its place as the definitive Best of Sensors healthcare solution of 2026.

Other winners of the Best of Sensors 2026 are available online.