Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
Bioengineers at the University of Stanford have developed what is being hailed as the first-ever water-based computer– a synchronous machine nearly 10 years in the making, operating using the unique physics of moving H2O droplets.
The computer, detailed in research published Monday in the journal Nature Physics, is the brainchild of assistant professor Manu Prakash, who said that he came up with the idea when working as a graduate student. In their paper, he and his colleagues demonstrate “a synchronous, universal droplet logic and control,” the professor explained in a statement.
While in graduate school, Prakash said that he was pondering whether or not droplets could be used as bits of information, and if their precise movements could be utilized to process physical materials and data at the same time. He eventually came up with the idea for a rotating magnetic field that could act as a clock capable of synchronizing all of the droplets.
The initial concept had promise, so he recruited a graduate student, Georgios “Yorgos” Katsikis, to assist him on the project. Since clocks are so essential to computers (and most other technologies) as they ensure that operation begin and end at the correct times, it seemed like an ideal launching point.
A whole new kind of computer
However, the researchers admit that some creative brainstorming was required to develop a clock for a fluid-based computer, since it needed to be easy to manipulate, let them manipulate several droplets at a time, and be scalable so that large numbers of droplets could communicate with each other without causing a delay. They opted to use a rotating magnetic field.
First, they constructed a maze-like array of small iron bars on glass sides, then covered it with a blank glass slide and placed a layer of oil in between them. Next, individual water droplets that had been infused with magnetic nanoparticles were carefully injected into the mixture, and they activated the magnetic field.
Each time the field flips, they explained, the bars reverse polarity and attract the magnetized H2O droplets in a specific direction. Every rotation of the field is considered to be one clock cycle, and with each cycle, each droplet moves one step forward. The interactions between the droplets are recorded in real time using cameras, and the presence or absence of water drops is representative of the 1s and 0s of binary code. Sounds easy enough. (We’re joking. It sounds very hard.)
Since the clock ensures that all the droplets move in perfect synchrony, the computing system can theoretically operate indefinitely without experiencing any errors. Also, because of the universal nature of the system, the Prakash and his colleagues believe that it can perform any operation that a conventional electronic computer can, just not as quickly. However, they have a specific purpose in mind for their device.
“We already have digital computers to process information. Our goal is not to compete with electronic computers or to operate word processors on this,” Prakash said in a statement. “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 information is processed but physical matter is algorithmically manipulated as well. We have just made this possible at the mesoscale.”
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