Computers and water typically don't mix, but in Manu Prakash's lab at Stanford, engineers have developed a computer that operates using the unique physics of moving water droplets.
The computer was made from an idea which struck Prakash when he was just a student. The work combines his expertise in manipulating droplet fluid dynamics with a fundamental element of computer science an operating clock. "In this work, we finally demonstrate a synchronous, universal droplet logic and control," Prakash said. The droplet computer can theoretically perform any operation that a conventional electronic computer can and that is because of the universal the nature of water.
Prakash also said " We already have digital computers to process information. Our goal is not to compete with electronic computers or to operate word processors on this". "Our goal is to build a completely new class of computers that can precisely control and manipulate physical matter. Imagine if when you run a set of computations that not only data is processed but physical matter is algorithmically manipulated as well. We have just made this possible at the mesoscale" he added.
Ever since Prakash was in graduate school this idea was nagging him, Eventually, Prakash decided to build a rotating magnetic field that could act as clock to synchronise all the droplets. The idea showed promise, and in the early stages of the project, Prakash recruited Georgios Katsikis, the first author on the paper.
Computer clocks are responsible for nearly every modern convenience. Smartphones, DVRs, airplanes, the Internet - without a clock, none of these could operate without frequent and serious complications. Nearly every computer program requires several simultaneous operations, each conducted in a perfect step-by step manner. A clock makes sure that these operations start and stop at the same times, thus ensuring that the information synchronises.
Clock for a fluid-based computer needs to be easy to manipulate, and also able to influence multiple droplets at a time. A large number of droplets could communicate amongst each other without skipping a beat.Katsikis and Prakash built arrays of tiny iron bars on glass slides that look something like a Pac-Man maze. They laid a blank glass slide on top and sandwiched a layer of oil in between. Then they carefully injected into the mix individual water droplets that had been infused with tiny magnetic nanoparticles.
Next, they turned on the magnetic field. Every time the field flips, the polarity of the bars reverses, drawing the magnetized droplets in a new, predetermined direction, like slot cars on a track. Every rotation of the field counts as one clock cycle, like a second hand making a full circle on a clock face, and every drop marches exactly one step forward with each cycle.
A camera records the interactions between individual droplets, allowing observation of computation as it occurs in real time. The presence or absence of a droplet represents the 1's and 0's of binary code, and the clock ensures that all the droplets move in perfect synchrony, and thus the system can run virtually forever without any errors.
Katsikis said "Following these rules, we've demonstrated that we can make all the universal logic gates used in electronics, simply by changing the layout of the bars on the chip,". "The actual design space in our platform is incredibly rich. Give us any Boolean logic circuit in the world, and we can build it with these little magnetic droplets moving around" he added.
The current chips are about half the size of a postage stamp, and the droplets are smaller than poppy seeds, but Katsikis said that the physics of the system suggests it can be made even smaller. Combined with the fact that the magnetic field can control millions of droplets simultaneously, this makes the system exceptionally scalable.
Jim Cybulski graduate student and co-author said "We can keep making it smaller and smaller so that it can do more operations per time, so that it can work with smaller droplet sizes and do more number of operations on a chip,". "That lends itself very well to a variety of applications." he added.
Prakash said the most immediate application might involve turning the computer into a high-throughput chemistry and biology laboratory. Instead of running reactions in bulk test tubes, each droplet can carry some chemicals and become its own test tube, and the droplet computer offers unprecedented control over these interactions.
Source: Mumbai Mirror
The computer was made from an idea which struck Prakash when he was just a student. The work combines his expertise in manipulating droplet fluid dynamics with a fundamental element of computer science an operating clock. "In this work, we finally demonstrate a synchronous, universal droplet logic and control," Prakash said. The droplet computer can theoretically perform any operation that a conventional electronic computer can and that is because of the universal the nature of water.
Prakash also said " We already have digital computers to process information. Our goal is not to compete with electronic computers or to operate word processors on this". "Our goal is to build a completely new class of computers that can precisely control and manipulate physical matter. Imagine if when you run a set of computations that not only data is processed but physical matter is algorithmically manipulated as well. We have just made this possible at the mesoscale" he added.
Ever since Prakash was in graduate school this idea was nagging him, Eventually, Prakash decided to build a rotating magnetic field that could act as clock to synchronise all the droplets. The idea showed promise, and in the early stages of the project, Prakash recruited Georgios Katsikis, the first author on the paper.
Computer clocks are responsible for nearly every modern convenience. Smartphones, DVRs, airplanes, the Internet - without a clock, none of these could operate without frequent and serious complications. Nearly every computer program requires several simultaneous operations, each conducted in a perfect step-by step manner. A clock makes sure that these operations start and stop at the same times, thus ensuring that the information synchronises.
Clock for a fluid-based computer needs to be easy to manipulate, and also able to influence multiple droplets at a time. A large number of droplets could communicate amongst each other without skipping a beat.Katsikis and Prakash built arrays of tiny iron bars on glass slides that look something like a Pac-Man maze. They laid a blank glass slide on top and sandwiched a layer of oil in between. Then they carefully injected into the mix individual water droplets that had been infused with tiny magnetic nanoparticles.
Next, they turned on the magnetic field. Every time the field flips, the polarity of the bars reverses, drawing the magnetized droplets in a new, predetermined direction, like slot cars on a track. Every rotation of the field counts as one clock cycle, like a second hand making a full circle on a clock face, and every drop marches exactly one step forward with each cycle.
A camera records the interactions between individual droplets, allowing observation of computation as it occurs in real time. The presence or absence of a droplet represents the 1's and 0's of binary code, and the clock ensures that all the droplets move in perfect synchrony, and thus the system can run virtually forever without any errors.
Katsikis said "Following these rules, we've demonstrated that we can make all the universal logic gates used in electronics, simply by changing the layout of the bars on the chip,". "The actual design space in our platform is incredibly rich. Give us any Boolean logic circuit in the world, and we can build it with these little magnetic droplets moving around" he added.
The current chips are about half the size of a postage stamp, and the droplets are smaller than poppy seeds, but Katsikis said that the physics of the system suggests it can be made even smaller. Combined with the fact that the magnetic field can control millions of droplets simultaneously, this makes the system exceptionally scalable.
Jim Cybulski graduate student and co-author said "We can keep making it smaller and smaller so that it can do more operations per time, so that it can work with smaller droplet sizes and do more number of operations on a chip,". "That lends itself very well to a variety of applications." he added.
Prakash said the most immediate application might involve turning the computer into a high-throughput chemistry and biology laboratory. Instead of running reactions in bulk test tubes, each droplet can carry some chemicals and become its own test tube, and the droplet computer offers unprecedented control over these interactions.
Source: Mumbai Mirror
