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C O V E R F E A T U R E
Janet Wilson Computer
Toward Things That Think for Things that think will help people realize the true benefits and potential of computing but only if those who develop technology change the way they think about computing and computing devices
ts hard to imagine that as fcw as 40 years ago US economists were forecasting a crisis of lcisnrc that would arise because of societys increased time savings from technology As anyone who totcs a laptop cell phone and pager can tcll you
technology seems to have overcomplicated lifc rather than uncomplicated it Something has gone terribly awry in the way people and computers relate
If scientists like MIT professor Neil Gershenfeld have their way however the new millennium could bring a new order Computers and information technology could come ful l circlc sccming to fade into the back- ground-becoming almost transparcnt-even as they become all the more pervasivc useful and powerful
According to Gcrshcnfeld for all the news coverage of the Internet and Web a far bigger change is coming as thc nnmher of things using the Net dwarfs thc numher of people The real promise of connccting computers is to free pcople by embedding the means to solve problcms in
mation not simply demand that wc pay attention to all the information available
Gershenfeld tclls a simple story to illustrate his point my wife and I spent a few years getting to know each other before marrying I wasnt nearly so choosy about my telephonc although I certainly wouldnt toleratc from a spouse many of the things a telephone does A phonc summons me when Im in the shower and cant answer It rings when Im asleep and dont want to answer It also preserves univcrsal access to friend and telemarketing foe alike A telephoric that cant make these distinctions isnt fit for politc com- pany hut each of us puts up with this behavior daily
Instead hc advocates that each of us should have thc right to
have information availablc when wc want it where we want it and in the form we want it be protected from sending or receiving informa-
The Whitc House and Smithsonian find elements of
this vision so compelling that they invited Gershenfeld and some of his colleagues to participate in a spccial New Years discussion and cxhibitinn Entitled Future Visions this special event took place at the Hirshhorn Mnseum Washington DC from 31 Dcccmber to 2 January
DESIGNING THINGS THAT THINK To dcsign things that think those that design com-
puters (and technology in general) nccd to bcgin think- ing about their products in a new way For one computers need to help people with a flood of infor-
morc integral part of the everyday life and tlic physi- cal world-the world of atoms
RECONCILING ATOMS AND BITS Much of Gershenfelds work lics at thc boundary of
the content of information and its physical represen- tation the atoms that make up the real world-inclnd- ing ourselves-and thc bits that scicnce has chosen to represent that world with
Agrcat divide has arisen between these two worlds It has come to influencc cvcn finance (see the When Bits and Atoms Change llaccs in Finance sidebar) hut is most evident in the way the computer industry
Computer 0016~9162100lS1000 0 2000 IEEE
When Bits and Atoms Change Places in Finance Accordinct to Gershenfeld another examde of the disconnect between
designs interfaces For cxamplc when you think of it a keyboard is a fairly contrived input device And a mouse-which arosc from Piagetrsquos study of young children gesturing and pointing-docsnrsquot scrve growii- ups very well Neither follow very naturally from what adult humans (a collection of atoms) have heen doing for centuries things like talking listening or feeling
Cershenfeld uses thc cxample of a card catalog An electronic catalog while easy to search doesnrsquot convey the popularity of each entry the same way the worn cdgcs of a well-thumbed piecc of cardhoard does Hc argues that we need interfaces to do both equally well
As another example consider vidcoconferenciiig- althnugh it still doesnrsquot convey tactile information you would think that it offers a fairly closc approximation of actual face-to-face mcctings But practitioners have found that humans process many cues that arenrsquot cffec- tively addressed by current systems One project cngi- nccr noticed that participants wcre deriving incorrcct social cues hased on camera anglc High angles made participants appear slccpy and disinterested (whcthcr that was the casc or not) and too low an angle often convcyed an aloofness that was cqually misleadingrsquo Again the way the bits failed to fully represent the atoms was intcrfcring with communication In thc next millcnniuni camputer interfaces intist scck to repre- sent all thc complex infurination that peoplc gather in cveryday encwnters
Books and 11118 A good cxamplc of a technology that needs to blend
the old with thc ncw is hooks and the papcr thcyrsquore printed on Though much of computing scems bent on rcplacing them a book lias many virtues As Gcrshenfeld points out it
boots instantly has a high-contrast high-resolution display is viewable from any aiiglc in bright or dim light permits Fast random access to any pagc provides instant visual and tactilc fccdhack on
can bc casily annotated rcqoires no batteries or maintcilancc and is rohustly packaged
Bccause of this thc Media 1ab is taking a different tack exploring several ways in which to give papcr onc characteristic of a liquid crystal display that it lacks the ahility to change
Researchcr Joc Jacnhsnn sccs microeiicapsulati[n as kcy to giving paper this new charactcristic (see httpl wwwmediamitedtilinicromcdialclcc~~a~~~rhtiiil) His group is developing microcncnpsol3terl particles about thc sizc of the taner granules used i n copy machines Each of thcsc particlcs cnntains still sniallcr particles By changing thc pattern of electrical chargcs a printer
the location of information
~
atoms and hits is the current valuation of some high-tech companies Whereas valuation formerly had some connection to physical or finan- cial assets that relation appears to he less important now For example the stock market values Ford and GM-which together have millions of employees and $500 billion in assets-at $100 billion Microsoft and Intel-which jointly have about 100000 employees and SS0 billion in assets-are worth $300 billion The economy appears independent of the laws of physics creating and eliminating great wealth with littlc appar- ent connection to the material world This is because money is increasingly digital-packets of bits circulating in global nctworks
The solution is to recognize the increased need to merge monitoring with spending For example the world has the technological means to implement price guarantees by pricing an item in dollars whose value remains active after the transaction Thc value would derive from the market for the item So if another dealer discounted a car the day afier you bought it the money could initiate a refund transfer from your dealerrsquos hank account to yours Thc dealer gets your business and you donrsquot have to worry about finding the right price
The further physical assets become divorced from financial value the more attractive these sorts of mechanisms become
Blue Dye
Figure 1 Fleclronic inkis made up olmillions of linymicrocapsules Inside each microcapsule is a mixture of dye and while parlicles These linypigmenl chips reacl lo an eleclrical charge lhal moves them loward (a) lhe top or (h) hollom 01 lhe microcap- sule causing the microcapsule lo change color Thepallerns of colors in Ihe microcap sule can be conlrolled lo creale letlers and words
can ldquoprintrdquo tcxt and images with this electronic-ink In 1997 Jacohscn and two of his students founded
startup E Ink (httpllwwweinkcom) with $1 5 8 mil- lion in funding from hackers like Motomla and The Hcarst Corp
The proccss thcir cnmpany is developing depcnds nn inicroeiicepsulatcd particlcs like those shown in Figure 1 In May 1999 E Ink ficlded test signs Ike thc
January 2000
Figure 2 Retailers can change the text on lmmedia signs remotely via Internet-based software or wireless pager This tour-toot-by-six-toot-sign is less fhan 3 mm thickand weighs 87pounds The company claims that you can update the message every 10 seconds while consuming less energy than a household light bulb Source E Ink Corp
Figure 3 Ptacing the coaster on a part olthe table creates a circuit with a characteristic frequency spectrum A circuit boardunderneath he table uses that spectrum lo idenlity the coaster so that the System displays the correct images Source Paul Niehuhr Museum of Modern Arl New York
one shown in Figure 2 Retailers can update these signs rcmotely via a wirclcss pagcr or Intcmct-hased soft- ware
Not only is e-ink paper potcntially reusable-whcn yoursquore finished using a sheet of paper simply run it through thc printcr again to print something clsc-hut itrsquos also inexpensive And microencapsulation is a well- tried chemical process
Even better than a reusable sheet of paper is one that can change while you watch Thus a second per- mutation that Joersquos group is working on moves the
electrodes imeded to switch the particles from the printer into the paper itself Given todayrsquos advanced IC fabrication-which can build circuits into a sili- con wafer thinner than a human hair-thcrcrsquos plcnty of room to put similar circuits into the thickness of a sheet of papcl And switching thc c-ink particlcs takcs very little power so such circuits could he powered by solar cells
By simply printing still more traiisistoi-s it is theo- retically possible to integrate a radio receiver into paper Radio paper offers tantalizing potential appli- cations Imaginc a newspaper that would update itself by radio signal simply by lcaving it ont in a room with some available light Though true radio paper is several years off the basic ideas have becn dcmon- strated in the laboratory
The ideas behind these types of paper and the elec- tronic books they would enable bridge the disconnect hetween old-fashioned hooks and ncw-fashioned hits lhese solotions recognize that both sides have strong technical cases that should he comhined There are deep reasons why the old technologies in a hook work so well but we need new ways to emulatc and adapt them
MOMR table Anothcr rcccnt projcct of thc Mcdia Lah was a
table for the Museum of Moclern Art in New York The objective was to provide a display that would cncourage more intcraction that thc usual singlecom puter single-person display
Gcrshenfeld and his students came up with an interactive circular tahle with sensors on its under- side Each ldquocoasterrdquo (in a ring around thc rotating center of the table) represented one of 26 projects By taking a coaster from the ring and placing it on thc area in front of them visitors crmld call up a pro- jected image of the floor plan for that particular pro- ject as shown in Figurc 3 Touching the surface around the floor plan would cal l up other information related to the architectural project To exchange infor- mation visitors can movc the imagc thcyrsquorc viewing to thc tahlcrsquos center for all those sitting around the tablc to scc and discuss
Though thc inrfacc appcared hare sensors on the tablersquos underside responded to the movement of a vis- itorrsquos hand in thrcc dimcnsions thc two in-plane dimensions of the tahle and movement either away from or toward the tablersquos surface These ldquotaufishrdquo sensors rely on a property of the physical world the weak electrostatic chargc coining off a personrsquos hand In doing so thc tahlc allows people to intcract with a coniputer naturally by pointing and to~iching- methods developed over millions of years In fact one prominent muscnin supporter exprcsscd her delight at not having a computer around to deliver this infor- mation
ma Computer
Personal lalricatoro lrsquorobleiiis arise when you try to learn how to make
things without actually making the things yoursquore Icarning ahout Many scientists and engineers fall into their ficlds by first tinkering with simple devices as a child
Thatrsquos prohahly part of the reason why another projcct at the Media Lab involvcs looking into thc possihility of personal fabricators sort of 3D printers The evolving idca bchind personal fabricators is that they arc a logical next step in a Irsquoclsquos evolution And just as companies arc trying to decentralize decision- making personal fabricators could decentralizc cre- ativity hy removing initial prototyping away from the increasingly cloying Iiicrarchy of planners enginccrs and lawyers that it takes tn manufacture a product
One step in that direction has heen Professor Mitch Resnickrsquos work with Lego building blocks integrat- ing thcm with sensors actuators and computing and communications devices This work has left the labs to bccornc thc Lego Mindstorm l inc of products shown in Figure 4 Mindstorm combines conveii- tional Lego bricks with radii-controlled motors and actuators so that kids-and a lot of grown-ups-can create their own machincs and robots
Lego and its industrial-strcngth cousin Festo neatly covcr kids and nianufacturing engineers But Kesnicli and Gershcnfcld wondcrcd about everyoiic clsc in hctween wuiild it be possihlc to givc evcryune a way to fahricatc things They formed the Any Thing project to sort out bow such a system might work
Onc of thc most interesting early rcvclations was that people didnrsquot want to have tu chase around and kccp inventorics of a whole hunch of small parts So thcy gravitated toward a solution that takcs raw materials andforms a 3D shapc-in the machine and on dcmand
There are several ways to do this Onc way is to aim a laser at epoxy which cures the iiiaterial in nnly specific spots A similar technique spreads layers of powder and squirts a hinder in areas that should stick togcther Systems froin Stratasys hic use fuseddep- sition modeling which gcncratcs 3D models by an extrusion pmccss that starts with spools of thcrmo- plastics as raw niatcrial
Thcsc machines are now cxpcnsivc and can t a k e considcrahle time to generate a modcl but thcy are steadily hecuming more efficient
COMPUTING ON THE CHEAP Another cliangc will fuel ideas for new things that
think and could also transform computing in the next few ycars This change is the move toward cheaper computing
Gcrshenfeld sees information tcchnolow as work- -
ing its way down a pyramid as shown in Figure C Ucvices at thc top-like inaiiiframes and supcrcom-
Figure 4 Lego Mindslorm combines small acluators and radio-controlled motors wilh lhe tradilional Lego bricks
$ $001
$ $n n i
Figure 5 As information lechnolooy and computers work their way down lhe pyramid they affect more ordinarypeople
puters-are expensive and used hy only a few people IrsquoCs made an impact on more people-mainly the cdu- cared and affluent-hringing computing into homes and businesses And therersquos heen a lot of press rcccntly ahout the coming of handhcld computcrs and emhecl- ded devices
Ilmvevcr the real revolution starts as tcchnology inches further down the hase and affects the lives of most ordinary pcoplc If you think about it most of the applications just mcntioned rely on chips that cost scvcral dollars apiece No one l i a s hecn ahle tu fahri- a t e chips for much less than about 10 cents each Tliis may not seem a limitatiun hut says Gcrshcnfcld think ahout what it lcaves off Just about everything
The real fun i n computing will start whcn compu- tation costs a small fraction of a cent The example Gcrshcnfcld uscs is attaching chips to gmccry store
itenis Thcsc chips could conimunicatc the price vf cach item total your hill and debit your accoiint as
January 2000
you walk out of the store No chcckers no standing in line And your cupboards could tally up what yonrsquovc uscd and present you with a shopping list for the next time around-or even place an order auto- matically
Or think of what would happen to mail delivery if cveryone could afford to attach a chip to each letter or package Locating tracking and sortiug cach piccc would require far less handling And again therersquos no more waiting in line at the post office It is these kinds of applications that companies often ask Gershcnfcld about and that will evcntually yicld another true rev- olution in computing
many components that can work together and change The digital world inust merge with the physical world-bits must work hand in hand with atoms Says Cershenield ldquoWe need to free bits from the con6ncs of camputcrs and bring them into the world of atoms The machines have had their turn now it is oursrdquo 9
Acknowledgments I thank Ncil Gcrshcnfcld for his help with this arti-
cle 1 also thank Andrew Ilavics of the Muscuin of Modern Art for his help in supplying images
idogy teaches that hard problems are often solvcd by thc intcraction of many simple sys- B tcms Dccoinposition is one example When a
moth dies an army of ants water and bacteria act in concert to return the mothrsquos clcments to the earth Gershenfeld sees biology as bottom-up design updatcd with a minimum of central planning much like the Internet There are Icssons hcrc for thasc developing technology
For thc dcvclopcrs of computing systems the real challenge is to figure out how to create systems with
Ref e I en c e s 1 Ilt L)ennry ldquoThe Leisure Societyrdquo Ilarvnrd Husiness
2 N Ccrshcnfcld When Things Stort to Think Henry
3 M Haywood Managing Virtual Teans Rrtrch House
Review MayJiine 1959
Holt and Co New York 1999
Irsquooblishers Boston pp 44~49
Janet Wi lson is a senior acquisitions editov fov Computer Contact her at jwilsoncoinputerorg
1 x I sons why 4
ing professionals e mputer Society COMPUTER I
ma Computer
When Bits and Atoms Change Places in Finance Accordinct to Gershenfeld another examde of the disconnect between
designs interfaces For cxamplc when you think of it a keyboard is a fairly contrived input device And a mouse-which arosc from Piagetrsquos study of young children gesturing and pointing-docsnrsquot scrve growii- ups very well Neither follow very naturally from what adult humans (a collection of atoms) have heen doing for centuries things like talking listening or feeling
Cershenfeld uses thc cxample of a card catalog An electronic catalog while easy to search doesnrsquot convey the popularity of each entry the same way the worn cdgcs of a well-thumbed piecc of cardhoard does Hc argues that we need interfaces to do both equally well
As another example consider vidcoconferenciiig- althnugh it still doesnrsquot convey tactile information you would think that it offers a fairly closc approximation of actual face-to-face mcctings But practitioners have found that humans process many cues that arenrsquot cffec- tively addressed by current systems One project cngi- nccr noticed that participants wcre deriving incorrcct social cues hased on camera anglc High angles made participants appear slccpy and disinterested (whcthcr that was the casc or not) and too low an angle often convcyed an aloofness that was cqually misleadingrsquo Again the way the bits failed to fully represent the atoms was intcrfcring with communication In thc next millcnniuni camputer interfaces intist scck to repre- sent all thc complex infurination that peoplc gather in cveryday encwnters
Books and 11118 A good cxamplc of a technology that needs to blend
the old with thc ncw is hooks and the papcr thcyrsquore printed on Though much of computing scems bent on rcplacing them a book lias many virtues As Gcrshenfeld points out it
boots instantly has a high-contrast high-resolution display is viewable from any aiiglc in bright or dim light permits Fast random access to any pagc provides instant visual and tactilc fccdhack on
can bc casily annotated rcqoires no batteries or maintcilancc and is rohustly packaged
Bccause of this thc Media 1ab is taking a different tack exploring several ways in which to give papcr onc characteristic of a liquid crystal display that it lacks the ahility to change
Researchcr Joc Jacnhsnn sccs microeiicapsulati[n as kcy to giving paper this new charactcristic (see httpl wwwmediamitedtilinicromcdialclcc~~a~~~rhtiiil) His group is developing microcncnpsol3terl particles about thc sizc of the taner granules used i n copy machines Each of thcsc particlcs cnntains still sniallcr particles By changing thc pattern of electrical chargcs a printer
the location of information
~
atoms and hits is the current valuation of some high-tech companies Whereas valuation formerly had some connection to physical or finan- cial assets that relation appears to he less important now For example the stock market values Ford and GM-which together have millions of employees and $500 billion in assets-at $100 billion Microsoft and Intel-which jointly have about 100000 employees and SS0 billion in assets-are worth $300 billion The economy appears independent of the laws of physics creating and eliminating great wealth with littlc appar- ent connection to the material world This is because money is increasingly digital-packets of bits circulating in global nctworks
The solution is to recognize the increased need to merge monitoring with spending For example the world has the technological means to implement price guarantees by pricing an item in dollars whose value remains active after the transaction Thc value would derive from the market for the item So if another dealer discounted a car the day afier you bought it the money could initiate a refund transfer from your dealerrsquos hank account to yours Thc dealer gets your business and you donrsquot have to worry about finding the right price
The further physical assets become divorced from financial value the more attractive these sorts of mechanisms become
Blue Dye
Figure 1 Fleclronic inkis made up olmillions of linymicrocapsules Inside each microcapsule is a mixture of dye and while parlicles These linypigmenl chips reacl lo an eleclrical charge lhal moves them loward (a) lhe top or (h) hollom 01 lhe microcap- sule causing the microcapsule lo change color Thepallerns of colors in Ihe microcap sule can be conlrolled lo creale letlers and words
can ldquoprintrdquo tcxt and images with this electronic-ink In 1997 Jacohscn and two of his students founded
startup E Ink (httpllwwweinkcom) with $1 5 8 mil- lion in funding from hackers like Motomla and The Hcarst Corp
The proccss thcir cnmpany is developing depcnds nn inicroeiicepsulatcd particlcs like those shown in Figure 1 In May 1999 E Ink ficlded test signs Ike thc
January 2000
Figure 2 Retailers can change the text on lmmedia signs remotely via Internet-based software or wireless pager This tour-toot-by-six-toot-sign is less fhan 3 mm thickand weighs 87pounds The company claims that you can update the message every 10 seconds while consuming less energy than a household light bulb Source E Ink Corp
Figure 3 Ptacing the coaster on a part olthe table creates a circuit with a characteristic frequency spectrum A circuit boardunderneath he table uses that spectrum lo idenlity the coaster so that the System displays the correct images Source Paul Niehuhr Museum of Modern Arl New York
one shown in Figure 2 Retailers can update these signs rcmotely via a wirclcss pagcr or Intcmct-hased soft- ware
Not only is e-ink paper potcntially reusable-whcn yoursquore finished using a sheet of paper simply run it through thc printcr again to print something clsc-hut itrsquos also inexpensive And microencapsulation is a well- tried chemical process
Even better than a reusable sheet of paper is one that can change while you watch Thus a second per- mutation that Joersquos group is working on moves the
electrodes imeded to switch the particles from the printer into the paper itself Given todayrsquos advanced IC fabrication-which can build circuits into a sili- con wafer thinner than a human hair-thcrcrsquos plcnty of room to put similar circuits into the thickness of a sheet of papcl And switching thc c-ink particlcs takcs very little power so such circuits could he powered by solar cells
By simply printing still more traiisistoi-s it is theo- retically possible to integrate a radio receiver into paper Radio paper offers tantalizing potential appli- cations Imaginc a newspaper that would update itself by radio signal simply by lcaving it ont in a room with some available light Though true radio paper is several years off the basic ideas have becn dcmon- strated in the laboratory
The ideas behind these types of paper and the elec- tronic books they would enable bridge the disconnect hetween old-fashioned hooks and ncw-fashioned hits lhese solotions recognize that both sides have strong technical cases that should he comhined There are deep reasons why the old technologies in a hook work so well but we need new ways to emulatc and adapt them
MOMR table Anothcr rcccnt projcct of thc Mcdia Lah was a
table for the Museum of Moclern Art in New York The objective was to provide a display that would cncourage more intcraction that thc usual singlecom puter single-person display
Gcrshenfeld and his students came up with an interactive circular tahle with sensors on its under- side Each ldquocoasterrdquo (in a ring around thc rotating center of the table) represented one of 26 projects By taking a coaster from the ring and placing it on thc area in front of them visitors crmld call up a pro- jected image of the floor plan for that particular pro- ject as shown in Figurc 3 Touching the surface around the floor plan would cal l up other information related to the architectural project To exchange infor- mation visitors can movc the imagc thcyrsquorc viewing to thc tahlcrsquos center for all those sitting around the tablc to scc and discuss
Though thc inrfacc appcared hare sensors on the tablersquos underside responded to the movement of a vis- itorrsquos hand in thrcc dimcnsions thc two in-plane dimensions of the tahle and movement either away from or toward the tablersquos surface These ldquotaufishrdquo sensors rely on a property of the physical world the weak electrostatic chargc coining off a personrsquos hand In doing so thc tahlc allows people to intcract with a coniputer naturally by pointing and to~iching- methods developed over millions of years In fact one prominent muscnin supporter exprcsscd her delight at not having a computer around to deliver this infor- mation
ma Computer
Personal lalricatoro lrsquorobleiiis arise when you try to learn how to make
things without actually making the things yoursquore Icarning ahout Many scientists and engineers fall into their ficlds by first tinkering with simple devices as a child
Thatrsquos prohahly part of the reason why another projcct at the Media Lab involvcs looking into thc possihility of personal fabricators sort of 3D printers The evolving idca bchind personal fabricators is that they arc a logical next step in a Irsquoclsquos evolution And just as companies arc trying to decentralize decision- making personal fabricators could decentralizc cre- ativity hy removing initial prototyping away from the increasingly cloying Iiicrarchy of planners enginccrs and lawyers that it takes tn manufacture a product
One step in that direction has heen Professor Mitch Resnickrsquos work with Lego building blocks integrat- ing thcm with sensors actuators and computing and communications devices This work has left the labs to bccornc thc Lego Mindstorm l inc of products shown in Figure 4 Mindstorm combines conveii- tional Lego bricks with radii-controlled motors and actuators so that kids-and a lot of grown-ups-can create their own machincs and robots
Lego and its industrial-strcngth cousin Festo neatly covcr kids and nianufacturing engineers But Kesnicli and Gershcnfcld wondcrcd about everyoiic clsc in hctween wuiild it be possihlc to givc evcryune a way to fahricatc things They formed the Any Thing project to sort out bow such a system might work
Onc of thc most interesting early rcvclations was that people didnrsquot want to have tu chase around and kccp inventorics of a whole hunch of small parts So thcy gravitated toward a solution that takcs raw materials andforms a 3D shapc-in the machine and on dcmand
There are several ways to do this Onc way is to aim a laser at epoxy which cures the iiiaterial in nnly specific spots A similar technique spreads layers of powder and squirts a hinder in areas that should stick togcther Systems froin Stratasys hic use fuseddep- sition modeling which gcncratcs 3D models by an extrusion pmccss that starts with spools of thcrmo- plastics as raw niatcrial
Thcsc machines are now cxpcnsivc and can t a k e considcrahle time to generate a modcl but thcy are steadily hecuming more efficient
COMPUTING ON THE CHEAP Another cliangc will fuel ideas for new things that
think and could also transform computing in the next few ycars This change is the move toward cheaper computing
Gcrshenfeld sees information tcchnolow as work- -
ing its way down a pyramid as shown in Figure C Ucvices at thc top-like inaiiiframes and supcrcom-
Figure 4 Lego Mindslorm combines small acluators and radio-controlled motors wilh lhe tradilional Lego bricks
$ $001
$ $n n i
Figure 5 As information lechnolooy and computers work their way down lhe pyramid they affect more ordinarypeople
puters-are expensive and used hy only a few people IrsquoCs made an impact on more people-mainly the cdu- cared and affluent-hringing computing into homes and businesses And therersquos heen a lot of press rcccntly ahout the coming of handhcld computcrs and emhecl- ded devices
Ilmvevcr the real revolution starts as tcchnology inches further down the hase and affects the lives of most ordinary pcoplc If you think about it most of the applications just mcntioned rely on chips that cost scvcral dollars apiece No one l i a s hecn ahle tu fahri- a t e chips for much less than about 10 cents each Tliis may not seem a limitatiun hut says Gcrshcnfcld think ahout what it lcaves off Just about everything
The real fun i n computing will start whcn compu- tation costs a small fraction of a cent The example Gcrshcnfcld uscs is attaching chips to gmccry store
itenis Thcsc chips could conimunicatc the price vf cach item total your hill and debit your accoiint as
January 2000
you walk out of the store No chcckers no standing in line And your cupboards could tally up what yonrsquovc uscd and present you with a shopping list for the next time around-or even place an order auto- matically
Or think of what would happen to mail delivery if cveryone could afford to attach a chip to each letter or package Locating tracking and sortiug cach piccc would require far less handling And again therersquos no more waiting in line at the post office It is these kinds of applications that companies often ask Gershcnfcld about and that will evcntually yicld another true rev- olution in computing
many components that can work together and change The digital world inust merge with the physical world-bits must work hand in hand with atoms Says Cershenield ldquoWe need to free bits from the con6ncs of camputcrs and bring them into the world of atoms The machines have had their turn now it is oursrdquo 9
Acknowledgments I thank Ncil Gcrshcnfcld for his help with this arti-
cle 1 also thank Andrew Ilavics of the Muscuin of Modern Art for his help in supplying images
idogy teaches that hard problems are often solvcd by thc intcraction of many simple sys- B tcms Dccoinposition is one example When a
moth dies an army of ants water and bacteria act in concert to return the mothrsquos clcments to the earth Gershenfeld sees biology as bottom-up design updatcd with a minimum of central planning much like the Internet There are Icssons hcrc for thasc developing technology
For thc dcvclopcrs of computing systems the real challenge is to figure out how to create systems with
Ref e I en c e s 1 Ilt L)ennry ldquoThe Leisure Societyrdquo Ilarvnrd Husiness
2 N Ccrshcnfcld When Things Stort to Think Henry
3 M Haywood Managing Virtual Teans Rrtrch House
Review MayJiine 1959
Holt and Co New York 1999
Irsquooblishers Boston pp 44~49
Janet Wi lson is a senior acquisitions editov fov Computer Contact her at jwilsoncoinputerorg
1 x I sons why 4
ing professionals e mputer Society COMPUTER I
ma Computer
Figure 2 Retailers can change the text on lmmedia signs remotely via Internet-based software or wireless pager This tour-toot-by-six-toot-sign is less fhan 3 mm thickand weighs 87pounds The company claims that you can update the message every 10 seconds while consuming less energy than a household light bulb Source E Ink Corp
Figure 3 Ptacing the coaster on a part olthe table creates a circuit with a characteristic frequency spectrum A circuit boardunderneath he table uses that spectrum lo idenlity the coaster so that the System displays the correct images Source Paul Niehuhr Museum of Modern Arl New York
one shown in Figure 2 Retailers can update these signs rcmotely via a wirclcss pagcr or Intcmct-hased soft- ware
Not only is e-ink paper potcntially reusable-whcn yoursquore finished using a sheet of paper simply run it through thc printcr again to print something clsc-hut itrsquos also inexpensive And microencapsulation is a well- tried chemical process
Even better than a reusable sheet of paper is one that can change while you watch Thus a second per- mutation that Joersquos group is working on moves the
electrodes imeded to switch the particles from the printer into the paper itself Given todayrsquos advanced IC fabrication-which can build circuits into a sili- con wafer thinner than a human hair-thcrcrsquos plcnty of room to put similar circuits into the thickness of a sheet of papcl And switching thc c-ink particlcs takcs very little power so such circuits could he powered by solar cells
By simply printing still more traiisistoi-s it is theo- retically possible to integrate a radio receiver into paper Radio paper offers tantalizing potential appli- cations Imaginc a newspaper that would update itself by radio signal simply by lcaving it ont in a room with some available light Though true radio paper is several years off the basic ideas have becn dcmon- strated in the laboratory
The ideas behind these types of paper and the elec- tronic books they would enable bridge the disconnect hetween old-fashioned hooks and ncw-fashioned hits lhese solotions recognize that both sides have strong technical cases that should he comhined There are deep reasons why the old technologies in a hook work so well but we need new ways to emulatc and adapt them
MOMR table Anothcr rcccnt projcct of thc Mcdia Lah was a
table for the Museum of Moclern Art in New York The objective was to provide a display that would cncourage more intcraction that thc usual singlecom puter single-person display
Gcrshenfeld and his students came up with an interactive circular tahle with sensors on its under- side Each ldquocoasterrdquo (in a ring around thc rotating center of the table) represented one of 26 projects By taking a coaster from the ring and placing it on thc area in front of them visitors crmld call up a pro- jected image of the floor plan for that particular pro- ject as shown in Figurc 3 Touching the surface around the floor plan would cal l up other information related to the architectural project To exchange infor- mation visitors can movc the imagc thcyrsquorc viewing to thc tahlcrsquos center for all those sitting around the tablc to scc and discuss
Though thc inrfacc appcared hare sensors on the tablersquos underside responded to the movement of a vis- itorrsquos hand in thrcc dimcnsions thc two in-plane dimensions of the tahle and movement either away from or toward the tablersquos surface These ldquotaufishrdquo sensors rely on a property of the physical world the weak electrostatic chargc coining off a personrsquos hand In doing so thc tahlc allows people to intcract with a coniputer naturally by pointing and to~iching- methods developed over millions of years In fact one prominent muscnin supporter exprcsscd her delight at not having a computer around to deliver this infor- mation
ma Computer
Personal lalricatoro lrsquorobleiiis arise when you try to learn how to make
things without actually making the things yoursquore Icarning ahout Many scientists and engineers fall into their ficlds by first tinkering with simple devices as a child
Thatrsquos prohahly part of the reason why another projcct at the Media Lab involvcs looking into thc possihility of personal fabricators sort of 3D printers The evolving idca bchind personal fabricators is that they arc a logical next step in a Irsquoclsquos evolution And just as companies arc trying to decentralize decision- making personal fabricators could decentralizc cre- ativity hy removing initial prototyping away from the increasingly cloying Iiicrarchy of planners enginccrs and lawyers that it takes tn manufacture a product
One step in that direction has heen Professor Mitch Resnickrsquos work with Lego building blocks integrat- ing thcm with sensors actuators and computing and communications devices This work has left the labs to bccornc thc Lego Mindstorm l inc of products shown in Figure 4 Mindstorm combines conveii- tional Lego bricks with radii-controlled motors and actuators so that kids-and a lot of grown-ups-can create their own machincs and robots
Lego and its industrial-strcngth cousin Festo neatly covcr kids and nianufacturing engineers But Kesnicli and Gershcnfcld wondcrcd about everyoiic clsc in hctween wuiild it be possihlc to givc evcryune a way to fahricatc things They formed the Any Thing project to sort out bow such a system might work
Onc of thc most interesting early rcvclations was that people didnrsquot want to have tu chase around and kccp inventorics of a whole hunch of small parts So thcy gravitated toward a solution that takcs raw materials andforms a 3D shapc-in the machine and on dcmand
There are several ways to do this Onc way is to aim a laser at epoxy which cures the iiiaterial in nnly specific spots A similar technique spreads layers of powder and squirts a hinder in areas that should stick togcther Systems froin Stratasys hic use fuseddep- sition modeling which gcncratcs 3D models by an extrusion pmccss that starts with spools of thcrmo- plastics as raw niatcrial
Thcsc machines are now cxpcnsivc and can t a k e considcrahle time to generate a modcl but thcy are steadily hecuming more efficient
COMPUTING ON THE CHEAP Another cliangc will fuel ideas for new things that
think and could also transform computing in the next few ycars This change is the move toward cheaper computing
Gcrshenfeld sees information tcchnolow as work- -
ing its way down a pyramid as shown in Figure C Ucvices at thc top-like inaiiiframes and supcrcom-
Figure 4 Lego Mindslorm combines small acluators and radio-controlled motors wilh lhe tradilional Lego bricks
$ $001
$ $n n i
Figure 5 As information lechnolooy and computers work their way down lhe pyramid they affect more ordinarypeople
puters-are expensive and used hy only a few people IrsquoCs made an impact on more people-mainly the cdu- cared and affluent-hringing computing into homes and businesses And therersquos heen a lot of press rcccntly ahout the coming of handhcld computcrs and emhecl- ded devices
Ilmvevcr the real revolution starts as tcchnology inches further down the hase and affects the lives of most ordinary pcoplc If you think about it most of the applications just mcntioned rely on chips that cost scvcral dollars apiece No one l i a s hecn ahle tu fahri- a t e chips for much less than about 10 cents each Tliis may not seem a limitatiun hut says Gcrshcnfcld think ahout what it lcaves off Just about everything
The real fun i n computing will start whcn compu- tation costs a small fraction of a cent The example Gcrshcnfcld uscs is attaching chips to gmccry store
itenis Thcsc chips could conimunicatc the price vf cach item total your hill and debit your accoiint as
January 2000
you walk out of the store No chcckers no standing in line And your cupboards could tally up what yonrsquovc uscd and present you with a shopping list for the next time around-or even place an order auto- matically
Or think of what would happen to mail delivery if cveryone could afford to attach a chip to each letter or package Locating tracking and sortiug cach piccc would require far less handling And again therersquos no more waiting in line at the post office It is these kinds of applications that companies often ask Gershcnfcld about and that will evcntually yicld another true rev- olution in computing
many components that can work together and change The digital world inust merge with the physical world-bits must work hand in hand with atoms Says Cershenield ldquoWe need to free bits from the con6ncs of camputcrs and bring them into the world of atoms The machines have had their turn now it is oursrdquo 9
Acknowledgments I thank Ncil Gcrshcnfcld for his help with this arti-
cle 1 also thank Andrew Ilavics of the Muscuin of Modern Art for his help in supplying images
idogy teaches that hard problems are often solvcd by thc intcraction of many simple sys- B tcms Dccoinposition is one example When a
moth dies an army of ants water and bacteria act in concert to return the mothrsquos clcments to the earth Gershenfeld sees biology as bottom-up design updatcd with a minimum of central planning much like the Internet There are Icssons hcrc for thasc developing technology
For thc dcvclopcrs of computing systems the real challenge is to figure out how to create systems with
Ref e I en c e s 1 Ilt L)ennry ldquoThe Leisure Societyrdquo Ilarvnrd Husiness
2 N Ccrshcnfcld When Things Stort to Think Henry
3 M Haywood Managing Virtual Teans Rrtrch House
Review MayJiine 1959
Holt and Co New York 1999
Irsquooblishers Boston pp 44~49
Janet Wi lson is a senior acquisitions editov fov Computer Contact her at jwilsoncoinputerorg
1 x I sons why 4
ing professionals e mputer Society COMPUTER I
ma Computer
Personal lalricatoro lrsquorobleiiis arise when you try to learn how to make
things without actually making the things yoursquore Icarning ahout Many scientists and engineers fall into their ficlds by first tinkering with simple devices as a child
Thatrsquos prohahly part of the reason why another projcct at the Media Lab involvcs looking into thc possihility of personal fabricators sort of 3D printers The evolving idca bchind personal fabricators is that they arc a logical next step in a Irsquoclsquos evolution And just as companies arc trying to decentralize decision- making personal fabricators could decentralizc cre- ativity hy removing initial prototyping away from the increasingly cloying Iiicrarchy of planners enginccrs and lawyers that it takes tn manufacture a product
One step in that direction has heen Professor Mitch Resnickrsquos work with Lego building blocks integrat- ing thcm with sensors actuators and computing and communications devices This work has left the labs to bccornc thc Lego Mindstorm l inc of products shown in Figure 4 Mindstorm combines conveii- tional Lego bricks with radii-controlled motors and actuators so that kids-and a lot of grown-ups-can create their own machincs and robots
Lego and its industrial-strcngth cousin Festo neatly covcr kids and nianufacturing engineers But Kesnicli and Gershcnfcld wondcrcd about everyoiic clsc in hctween wuiild it be possihlc to givc evcryune a way to fahricatc things They formed the Any Thing project to sort out bow such a system might work
Onc of thc most interesting early rcvclations was that people didnrsquot want to have tu chase around and kccp inventorics of a whole hunch of small parts So thcy gravitated toward a solution that takcs raw materials andforms a 3D shapc-in the machine and on dcmand
There are several ways to do this Onc way is to aim a laser at epoxy which cures the iiiaterial in nnly specific spots A similar technique spreads layers of powder and squirts a hinder in areas that should stick togcther Systems froin Stratasys hic use fuseddep- sition modeling which gcncratcs 3D models by an extrusion pmccss that starts with spools of thcrmo- plastics as raw niatcrial
Thcsc machines are now cxpcnsivc and can t a k e considcrahle time to generate a modcl but thcy are steadily hecuming more efficient
COMPUTING ON THE CHEAP Another cliangc will fuel ideas for new things that
think and could also transform computing in the next few ycars This change is the move toward cheaper computing
Gcrshenfeld sees information tcchnolow as work- -
ing its way down a pyramid as shown in Figure C Ucvices at thc top-like inaiiiframes and supcrcom-
Figure 4 Lego Mindslorm combines small acluators and radio-controlled motors wilh lhe tradilional Lego bricks
$ $001
$ $n n i
Figure 5 As information lechnolooy and computers work their way down lhe pyramid they affect more ordinarypeople
puters-are expensive and used hy only a few people IrsquoCs made an impact on more people-mainly the cdu- cared and affluent-hringing computing into homes and businesses And therersquos heen a lot of press rcccntly ahout the coming of handhcld computcrs and emhecl- ded devices
Ilmvevcr the real revolution starts as tcchnology inches further down the hase and affects the lives of most ordinary pcoplc If you think about it most of the applications just mcntioned rely on chips that cost scvcral dollars apiece No one l i a s hecn ahle tu fahri- a t e chips for much less than about 10 cents each Tliis may not seem a limitatiun hut says Gcrshcnfcld think ahout what it lcaves off Just about everything
The real fun i n computing will start whcn compu- tation costs a small fraction of a cent The example Gcrshcnfcld uscs is attaching chips to gmccry store
itenis Thcsc chips could conimunicatc the price vf cach item total your hill and debit your accoiint as
January 2000
you walk out of the store No chcckers no standing in line And your cupboards could tally up what yonrsquovc uscd and present you with a shopping list for the next time around-or even place an order auto- matically
Or think of what would happen to mail delivery if cveryone could afford to attach a chip to each letter or package Locating tracking and sortiug cach piccc would require far less handling And again therersquos no more waiting in line at the post office It is these kinds of applications that companies often ask Gershcnfcld about and that will evcntually yicld another true rev- olution in computing
many components that can work together and change The digital world inust merge with the physical world-bits must work hand in hand with atoms Says Cershenield ldquoWe need to free bits from the con6ncs of camputcrs and bring them into the world of atoms The machines have had their turn now it is oursrdquo 9
Acknowledgments I thank Ncil Gcrshcnfcld for his help with this arti-
cle 1 also thank Andrew Ilavics of the Muscuin of Modern Art for his help in supplying images
idogy teaches that hard problems are often solvcd by thc intcraction of many simple sys- B tcms Dccoinposition is one example When a
moth dies an army of ants water and bacteria act in concert to return the mothrsquos clcments to the earth Gershenfeld sees biology as bottom-up design updatcd with a minimum of central planning much like the Internet There are Icssons hcrc for thasc developing technology
For thc dcvclopcrs of computing systems the real challenge is to figure out how to create systems with
Ref e I en c e s 1 Ilt L)ennry ldquoThe Leisure Societyrdquo Ilarvnrd Husiness
2 N Ccrshcnfcld When Things Stort to Think Henry
3 M Haywood Managing Virtual Teans Rrtrch House
Review MayJiine 1959
Holt and Co New York 1999
Irsquooblishers Boston pp 44~49
Janet Wi lson is a senior acquisitions editov fov Computer Contact her at jwilsoncoinputerorg
1 x I sons why 4
ing professionals e mputer Society COMPUTER I
ma Computer
you walk out of the store No chcckers no standing in line And your cupboards could tally up what yonrsquovc uscd and present you with a shopping list for the next time around-or even place an order auto- matically
Or think of what would happen to mail delivery if cveryone could afford to attach a chip to each letter or package Locating tracking and sortiug cach piccc would require far less handling And again therersquos no more waiting in line at the post office It is these kinds of applications that companies often ask Gershcnfcld about and that will evcntually yicld another true rev- olution in computing
many components that can work together and change The digital world inust merge with the physical world-bits must work hand in hand with atoms Says Cershenield ldquoWe need to free bits from the con6ncs of camputcrs and bring them into the world of atoms The machines have had their turn now it is oursrdquo 9
Acknowledgments I thank Ncil Gcrshcnfcld for his help with this arti-
cle 1 also thank Andrew Ilavics of the Muscuin of Modern Art for his help in supplying images
idogy teaches that hard problems are often solvcd by thc intcraction of many simple sys- B tcms Dccoinposition is one example When a
moth dies an army of ants water and bacteria act in concert to return the mothrsquos clcments to the earth Gershenfeld sees biology as bottom-up design updatcd with a minimum of central planning much like the Internet There are Icssons hcrc for thasc developing technology
For thc dcvclopcrs of computing systems the real challenge is to figure out how to create systems with
Ref e I en c e s 1 Ilt L)ennry ldquoThe Leisure Societyrdquo Ilarvnrd Husiness
2 N Ccrshcnfcld When Things Stort to Think Henry
3 M Haywood Managing Virtual Teans Rrtrch House
Review MayJiine 1959
Holt and Co New York 1999
Irsquooblishers Boston pp 44~49
Janet Wi lson is a senior acquisitions editov fov Computer Contact her at jwilsoncoinputerorg
1 x I sons why 4
ing professionals e mputer Society COMPUTER I
ma Computer
