It is a piece of news that’s amazing for all tech geeks - but it is also one that’ll have Charges Babbage’s soul (yes, the father of computers) sweat! nay, thrilled - to see his concept of a Difference Engine relived in nano technology.
It’s coz a group of researchers from the US have proposed a blueprint for a tiny, ultra-robust energy efficient nano computer that’s inspired by the 200-year old design proposed by Babbage.
According to Professor Robert Blick, the proposed concept is a new type of computing architecture that is only based on nano-mechanical elements, it will not compete with the high-speed silicon - but will be highly competitive where laborious applications require microprocessors that can be slow and cheap.
There is no denying that the original steam-computers weren’t ever completed yet, consisted of more than 25,000 individual livers and weighed more than 13 tones, and were capable of carrying out complex calculations. However, here the researchers hope to cut out on a few pounds also maintaining the capability of carrying out those high-complexity calculations.
With nano-technology crafting things smaller all the while, this project doesn’t seem a Herculean task - the work on the project has already hit the initial stages and it shouldn’t be long before we live out these researchers dream. The group believes - nano mechanical devices aren’t vulnerable to electromagnetic pulse that could make it difficult to crack into the device, making it a military friendly tool, unlike the chips used.
This will be small and mobile, but to refute - most computers are mobile these days, Perhaps where this could take ahead is in the power consumption. This would come with an efficient battery that’ll help cut on the energy consumption.
[Source: BBC]
