2015 has been a year to report very disparate progress in advancing different energy harvesting technologies: advances in thermoelectrics, new and higher power output photovoltaics, capacitive harvesting as well as steady development of markets for electrodynamics along with new applications have created an array of devices serving a diverse number of industries; with applications for wireless sensors, switches and actuators all the way to high power industrial waste heat and vibration harvesting, the technology landscape is developing at a steady pace, with many interesting applications being realized.

Installing photovoltaics in roads seems a daft idea at first. It sounds expensive and unlikely to work unless cleaned, free of snow and ice and in direct sunlight - all too infrequent in most places. Indeed, roads are constantly dug up by utilities, repairmen and others. How do you do that with sheets of glass?

The first industrial robot, Unimate, went into operation at a General Motors plant in 1961. Over the next few decades the use of industrial robot arms in the automotive industry matured.

Summary of the key information tracked during the Electric Vehicle conference held in Santa Clara USA.

Extreme vehicle concepts have a habit of appearing in a car near you.

Organo-lead halide perovskite materials, commonly used in high-efficiency perovskite solar cells, are materials that can easily decompose in moisture conditions. They cannot survive even for one day without proper encapsulation.

It is a no brainer. The ultimate vehicle by land water and air is independent in performance of task and in provision of its motive power.

Energy independent electric vehicles exist today and there is a multi-billion dollar opportunity for their new technology as it cascades down into all vehicles, land, water and air. The new report from analysts IDTechEx is a world first in revealing this exciting future for component and system suppliers, product integrators and system integrators.

Energy harvesting is a term that now encompasses creating microwatts to megawatts of off-grid electricity using ambient energy such as heat, light, wind and waves. That means big business for those seeing the big picture.

Scouting the market for energy harvesting for almost 7 years now has allowed IDTechEx significant insight into the markets for the technologies, the potential applications and their prospects for growth.

High power energy harvesting (HPEH) is the clean part of off-grid renewable energy and its main potential lies at kilowatts to megawatts. Few things are genuinely new in this world but newly important aspects of energy harvesting really matter.

Thought leaders IDTechEx were among the first to identify three new megatrends in the world of technology: Structural Electronics (SE); 3D Printed Electronics (3DPE); Energy Independent Electric Vehicles (EIVs).

The most dramatic new advances and visions have no name initially. So it is with electric vehicles that need no external charging or refuelling - no, not even wireless charging.

Forget the obsession with driverless autonomous cars; energy independent vehicles are the megatrend. Electric land vehicles, boats, underwater craft and aircraft already exist that never plug in or refuel.

Perovoskite photovoltaics promises over 20% efficiency, low cost materials and even flexible, transparent and stretchable versions dearly needed for new applications. Record power to weight ratio is needed for the electric vehicle end game, the land vehicles, boats and aircraft described in the IDTechEx report, Energy Independent Vehicles 2016-2026.

High Power Energy Harvesting (HPEH) is a term beginning to be used for creation of electricity where it is needed using ambient "free" energy. That zero-pollution, high-energy conversion typically captures light (photovoltaics), heat difference (thermoelectrics and heat pumps) and movement (electrodynamics).

Thermoelectric energy harvesting is no longer the Cinderella of energy harvesting - a subject previously dominated by photovoltaics and electrodynamics such as the bicycle dynamo and the electric vehicle's regenerative braking.

IDTechEx Research's brand new report analyses and forecasts the wireless charging market for electric vehicles and small electronics.

Energy harvesting spans microwatts to megawatts because it is the creation of electricity where it is needed using wind, sun, movement, heat difference, friction and other ambient energy.

A trillion dollar opportunity to 2035, electric buses are being completely reinvented because they are the electric vehicle sector already attracting billion dollar orders and they can prevent millions of deaths and injuries from air pollution.