In the past 50 years, computers have shrunk from room-size mainframesto lightweight handhelds. This fantastic miniaturization is primarily the result of high-volume nano scale manufacturing. While this technology has predominantly been applied to logic and memory, it’s now being used to create advanced micro electromechanical systems using both top-down and bottom- up processes.
One possible outcome of continued progress in high-volume nano scale
assembly is the ability to inexpensively produce millimeter-scale units that
integrate computing, sensing, actuation, and locomotion mechanisms. A
collection of such units can be viewed as a form of programmable matter.
CLAYTRONICS
The Claytronics project is a joint effort of researchers at Carnegie Mellon
University and Intel Research Pittsburgh to explore how programmable matter might change the computing experience. Similar to how audio and video technologies capture and reproduce sound and moving images, respectively,
we are investigating ways to reproduce moving physical 3D objects.
The idea behind claytronics is neither to transport an object’s original instance nor to recreate its chemical
composition, but rather to create a physical artifact using programmable matter that will eventually be able to
mimic the original object’s shape, movement, visual appearance, sound, and tactile qualities.
www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics/
http://sjet.wordpress.com/
video of catoms
