4 ms·
Engineers develop a computer that operates on water droplets
- cnp 11y agoCurious if anyone has any other potential applications they can share? The authors listed only a few, but the possibilities seem quite vast.
- sumitviii 11y agoWhat possible applications?
- cnp 11y agoMeaning, what other possible real-world uses can be conceived of?
- jbhatab 11y agoYeah I'm really trying to think. It's tough to think of something where a computer can't just process and then have some output that changes physical matter after or even during the process. So it would need to be something that requires the object that is doing the calculation to change while calculating? I'm trying to view it in a good way.
- marcosdumay 11y agoIf they make their fluid inert (what is a relative characteristic), there are probably several application in chemistry.
- nitrogen 11y agoRadiation-resistant computation comes to mind.
- mey 11y agoIf the methodology works with arbitrary fluid droplets (not just water) there could be interesting work done from blood analysis to drug synthesis.
- mhb 11y agoMaybe I missed it, but it doesn't work with water. They're using ferrofluid.
- GuiA 11y agoReminds me of the water integrator, a water based computer built in the Soviet Union in the 20s: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_integrator http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_integrator And also of MONIAC, a computer from the late 40s that modeled the UK's economy using water: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MONIAC_Computer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MONIAC_Computer
- digi_owl 11y agoMONIAC was the first i thought about as well. Note that it was created by the same guy that gave economics the Phillips curve. And frankly the hydraulic computer was his better work. Why it has gotten ignored is perhaps because it is inherently non-equilibrium and packed with feedback loops, both elements that are anathema to (neo-)classical economics. If someone wants to have a look at a modern replacement, i would recommend Minsky. http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/minsky/ http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/minsky/
- beambot 11y agoFor those who are unfamiliar with Prakash's work... He did his PhD at MIT's Media Lab on "Microfluidic Bubble Logic", which is the earlier basis for this work. Here's his thesis (big PDF): http://cba.mit.edu/docs/theses/08.09.Prakash.pdf http://cba.mit.edu/docs/theses/08.09.Prakash.pdf
- kwhitefoot 11y agoAnd no one has, yet, mentioned Glooper from Making Money.
- silveira 11y agoHow to create logical gates (XOR, AND, etc) using water: http://www.blikstein.com/paulo/projects/project_water.html http://www.blikstein.com/paulo/projects/project_water.html And more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluidics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluidics
- Natsu 11y agoPersonally, I prefer making logic gates with magma: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=54046.0 http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=54046.0
- pcunite 11y agoWindows XP?
- jhallenworld 11y agoI assume this is works the same way as bubble memory? https://www.gsalmasi.com/almasiconsulting/bubbles/index.html https://www.gsalmasi.com/almasiconsulting/bubbles/index.html Video embedded in the link above was not working for me, it's on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rqPmjmQOxw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rqPmjmQOxw
- erroneousfunk 11y agoGuy Steel thought of this in the 70's: http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/A/ad-hockery.html#crunchly73-10-31 http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/A/ad-hockery.html#crunchly73... (Caution: Terrible puns) Click the link below each cartoon to read the series.