Micromachines in Modern Use

Posted by michael on Saturday October 6, 2001 @09:02AM from the little-engine-that-could dept.

dragons_flight writes: "Physics Today has a lengthy article on MEMS (microelectromechanical systems AKA micromachines) including the ways they are being put to use right now. Uses include airbag collision detectors in cars, pressure guages, "micro-microphones", video projection, scientific equipment, and the ever popular optical switching technology. In addition there are two brief sidebars discussing how micro- and macro-machines differ and the use of integrated circuit technology to build MEMS."

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MEMS "Smart Dust" by Spootnik · 2001-10-06 09:11 · Score: 3, Interesting

I just attended a conference last week where a scientist from UC/Berkeley presented his current work on 'smartDust' which is a microelectromechanical system project to design exactly such critters. They're currently shooting for a 1 cubic millimeter final device. The little mote contains a power supply, transceiver, sensors and actuators. Pretty amazing stuff at the interface between science fiction and current research.