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Intel Envisions Shape-Shifting Smartphones
An anonymous reader writes "It's not sci-fi, but rather advanced robotics research which is leading Intel to envision shape-shifting smartphones. 'Imagine what you would do with this material,' says Jason Campbell, a senior researcher at Intel's Pittsburgh Lab who's working in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University. 'If you want to carry the device, you'd make it as small as possible by making it pack itself as densely as possible. When you go to surf the Web, you're going to make it big.' The material being studied is transparent silicon-dioxide hemispheres, which can roll around each other under electrical control to create different shapes. The lab has built 6-inch long actuators, which it's working to reduce to 1-mm tube-sized prototypes. When will we see a shape-shifting phone? 'In terms of me being able to buy it, that's a difficult forecasting problem, because I have to guess about manufacturing costs,' Campbell said. 'I won't do that. But we hope the science will be proved out in three to five years.'"
Be sure to set your ringtone to that Transformers sound.
Hope it has keylocking features... I wouldn't like to have to explain a sudden "bulge" in my pants...
On the other hand "is that an email, or are you just happy to see me?"
'I won't do that. But we hope the science will be proved out in three to five years.'
I think that's an overly optimistic figure and I wish he would have commented on the date it would hit shelves as it's likely many decades into the future.
... and subsequently became very very rich (patents). A utilitarian might argue that this is the way it should be.
I'm probably captain obvious for saying this but as the complexity of our inventions reaches new highs (and requires more teams of people than just inventor-geniuses) it may increase the amount of time between inventing and actually marketing the product.
You may be able to argue that this has always been a long time with people like Charles Babbage or Nikola Tesla but I suspect it's going to get to the point where a lab researcher invents a way of doing something that does not hit everyday usage until well after his/her death. The ability to cheaply fabricate a device may be a bigger feat than development of the device. I seem to recall from some book (Three Cups of Tea?) that a man who worked on fabrication of computer chips & boards thought of a novel way to accomplish the task when he was in his shower and noticed how water ran off his skin. He somehow applied this to making computer boards more cheaply and effectively
My work here is dung.
Science proved out in 3-5 years. Then how long to get manufacturing to commercial dependability and costs? Once it is on the market, how long until it is more than a high priced novelty? And, the most important question, will battery technology be good enough to power a shape shifting phone for a day or two?
http://bgcommonsense.blogspot.com
Sex toys.
Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
Nokia's Morph Concept was announced in February 2008, over a year ago.
The video on that site, which has illustrated use-case demos (unlike the Intel video) is also available through youtube for those of you who want direct access:
YouTube - Nokia Morph Concept.
Amazing stuff.
Use my userscript to add story images to Slashdot. There's no going back.
> It's not sci-fi, but rather advanced robotics research which is leading Intel
> to envision shape-shifting smartphones
It's embarassing enough to be in a business meeting and have your brother call to the forgotten custom ringtone of "I Like Big Butts".
Now you've gotta worry about the phone turning into a penis or vagina shape?
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Teledildonics will always be [ahem] a growth industry...
Mal-2
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.