The Crazy-Tiny Next Generation of Computers

An anonymous reader writes University of Michigan professors are about to release the design files for a one-cubic-millimeter computer, or mote. They have finally reached a goal set in 1997, when UC Berkeley professor Kristopher Pister coined the term "smart dust" and envisioned computers blanketing the Earth. Such motes are likely to play a key role in the much-ballyhooed Internet of Things. From the article: "When Prabal Dutta accidentally drops a computer, nothing breaks. There’s no crash. The only sound you might hear is a prolonged groan. That’s because these computers are just one cubic millimeter in size, and once they hit the floor, they’re gone. 'We just lose them,' Dutta says. 'It’s worse than jewelry.' To drive the point home, Dutta, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the University of Michigan, emails me a photo of 50 of these computers. They barely fill a thimble halfway to its brim."

Comments

Not revolutionary, very custom

[Anonymous Coward]

I read about this a week ago. I was not impressed. Basically a lot of marketing bullshit and no huge breakthroughs.

Strip any small CPU of it's plastic and guess what you have? Well, a tiny silicon die.

They will release the blueprint so that anyone with a $50 million lab can build them? How nice...

And they think these things are going to measure the real energy costs of my house? I have news for you. The energy costs of all houses in the world have probably doubled only because of all the projects to measure these same energy costs.

Sorry, but no.