Analog computing is a term used by Paul Saffo of the Institute for the Future
in Palo Alto, California, to describe silicon-based microsensors that sense and
react to external (natural) stimuli in something that approximates the rhythm of
reality rather than the "artificial" binary behavior of digital computing. Saffo
foresees that, by implanting tiny machines including sensors and actuators in
the same materials used to manufacture digital memory and processors (and by
using some of the same manufacturing techniques), the next decade will
increasingly find uses for "intelligent" material that responds to its
environment inanalog or dynamically responding fashion. Examples include
packages that can "talk back" to their handlers; airplane wings that can reshape
themselves as they meet turbulence; chairs that can mold themselves into the
best supporting shape for each person.
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| What is analog computing ? |
Saffo's analog computers also go by the names
of MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) and smart matter .
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