The Michigan Micro Mote (M^3) Computer Is World's Smallest Computer
The Michigan Micro Mote (M^3) is arguably the world's smallest autonomous computer that can do a lot of stuff for its size. Result of about a decade of research and development at the University of Michigan, the Michigan Mote opens up new avenues towards the world of Internet of Things (IoT). For the record's sake, the M^3 is so small that it can be confused with a grain of rice. The official dimensions point at 1 millimetre cubed form factor of this computer. That's quite awesome, because like any other regular computer, the M^3 can be programmed, charged via light and shows promise of industrial use.
If you thought that IoT is the future, you surely are from the past. The world's already on the verge of having everything connected - right from your ball pen to your toilet paper dispenser. It requires no special imagination to understand that as more things get connected with each other, the size of computers operating behind the scenes must be smaller. Despite its small form factor, the M^3 can click pictures, record temperature variations and also log pressure readings. The research team intends to embed this microcomputer into various applications for potential use in medical and industrial applications.
The researchers say that the Micro Mote can be injected into body to perform various medical procedures like ECG, noting down the pressure and temperature at various locations within your body and provide very critical information to the doctors. One of the biggest hurdles in designing the computer of the size of the Micro Mote was to bring down the size of batteries. With no facility to accept inputs from keyboard and mouse, the M^3 uses light thrown at it at high frequencies. It uses radio frequencies to send the vital information back to the central control computer.
The little computer is ready for production and the next milestone for the engineering team is to create even smaller computers; which they call 'Smart Dust'. Have a look at this video that talks about the Micro Mote -
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If you thought that IoT is the future, you surely are from the past. The world's already on the verge of having everything connected - right from your ball pen to your toilet paper dispenser. It requires no special imagination to understand that as more things get connected with each other, the size of computers operating behind the scenes must be smaller. Despite its small form factor, the M^3 can click pictures, record temperature variations and also log pressure readings. The research team intends to embed this microcomputer into various applications for potential use in medical and industrial applications.
The researchers say that the Micro Mote can be injected into body to perform various medical procedures like ECG, noting down the pressure and temperature at various locations within your body and provide very critical information to the doctors. One of the biggest hurdles in designing the computer of the size of the Micro Mote was to bring down the size of batteries. With no facility to accept inputs from keyboard and mouse, the M^3 uses light thrown at it at high frequencies. It uses radio frequencies to send the vital information back to the central control computer.
The little computer is ready for production and the next milestone for the engineering team is to create even smaller computers; which they call 'Smart Dust'. Have a look at this video that talks about the Micro Mote -
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