Worlds Smallest Computer at Work

An unusual example of embedding computing using sensors.

Snails Carrying World's Smallest Computer Help Solve Mass Extinction Survivor Mystery

University of Michigan News Service

By Katherine McAlpine; Catharine June  University of Michigan,  June 15, 2021

University of Michigan (U-M) biologists and engineers used the world's smallest computer to learn how the South Pacific Society Islands tree snail Partula hyalina survived a mass extinction. Former U-M researcher Inhee Lee adapted the Michigan Micro Mote (M3) sensor to test the theory that P. hyalina survived the deliberate introduction of the predatory rosy wolf snail to its environment as attributable to its light-reflecting white shell. The researchers deployed 50 M3s in Tahiti, gluing some to rosy wolf snails while others were stuck on leaves harboring the P. hyalina, which rests in daytime. Lee wirelessly downloaded data from each M3 at the end of the day. Based on that data, the researchers suspect P. hyalina avoids predation because the rosy wolf snail will not venture far into its sunlight-heavy habitat.

Small Sensors and Robotics: Insects in Tow

Back to our interest here in small robotics and now taking it beyond bio mimicry to directly using insectoriva.

Researchers Use Flying Insects to Drop Sensors Safely    By UW News

 A Manduca sexta moth carrying a sensor on its back. ... 

University of Washington researchers have created a sensor small and light enough to ride on the back of an insect for deployment.

Researchers at the University of Washington (UW) have created a 98-milligram sensor that can access difficult- or dangerous-to-reach areas by riding on a small drone or an insect and being dropped when it reaches its destination.

The sensor is released when it receives a Bluetooth command and can fall up to 72 feet at a maximum speed of 11 mph without breaking, then collect data like temperature or humidity levels for nearly three years.

Said UW's Shyam Gollakota, "This is the first time anyone has shown that sensors can be released from tiny drones or insects such as moths, which can traverse through narrow spaces better than any drone and sustain much longer flights."The system could be used to create a sensor network within a study area researchers wish to monitor.

From University of Washington

Creating Energy from the Air

Quite a revalelation,  use for LED's, IOT applications? 

Electric bacteria create currents out of thin—and thick—air
By Elizabeth Pennisi, in Science Mag 

Generating electricity from thin air may sound like science fiction, but a new technology based on nanowire-sprouting bacteria does just that—as long as there’s moisture in the air. A new study shows that when fashioned into a film, these wires—protein filaments that ferry electrons away from the bacteria—can produce enough power to light an LED. The film works by simply by absorbing humidity from the surrounding air. Though researchers aren’t sure exactly how these wires work, the tiny power plants pack a punch: 17 devices linked together can generate 10 volts, which is enough electricity to power a cell phone.  

The new method should be considered a “milestone advance” says Guo Wanlin, a materials scientist at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics who wasn’t involved with the work. Guo studies hydrovoltaics, a molecular approach to harvesting electricity from water.

The way hydrovoltaic devices work is still a bit of a mystery. When water droplets interact with certain kinds of graphene or other materials, an electric charge is generated, and electrons move through the materials. Many questions remain, however, about exactly how these devices generate electricity. “I think a deeper understanding… is needed,” says Dirk de Beer, a microbiologist developing microsensors at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology.   .... "