Things

1
Prof. Neil Gershenfeld Director http//cba.mit.e
du/neilg NSF CCR-0122419
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Bits and AtomsGrand Challenges
it from bit how can functional description be
embodied in physical form?
computational assembly
RF biology
programmable design
personal fabrication
bit from it how can functional description be
abstracted from physical form?
quantum-mechanical engineering
analog logic
silicon biology
statistical-mechanical engineering
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Thresholds
1963 Computation (Winograd, von Neumann)
2003 Fabrication (Jacobson, Knight, )
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RF Biology
Remote Electronic Control of DNA Hybridization
Through Inductive Coupling to an Attached Metal
Nanocrystal Antenna, K. Hamad-Schifferli, J.J.
Schwartz, A.T. Santos, S.G. Zhang, and J.M.
Jacobson, Nature (415) pp. 152-155, 2002
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MicroencapsulatedElectropheresis
B. Comiskey, J.D. Albert, H. Yoshizawa and J.
Jacobson An Electrophoretic Ink for
All-Printed Reflective Electronic Displays
Nature (394), 253-5 (1998)
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Nanotectics
Brent Ridley, Babak Nivi, and Joseph
Jacobson, All-Inorganic Field Effect Transistors
Fabricated by Printing, Science (286) 746, 1999
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Printed Memory
(Brian Hubert)
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3D Inkjet Printing
(Joe Jacobson)
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Printed Electro-Mechanical Systems
MEMS (1B, 1m) vs PEMS (1k, 1mm)
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Fabrication
in
out
m
mm
µm
nm
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Making Anything
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How To Make(almost) Anything
How To Make Something That Makes (almost) Anything
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ScreamBody
(Kelly Dobson)
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Interpet Explorer
(Irene Pepperberg, Ben Resner)
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Personal Toy Fabrication
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The Liberal Arts
Literacy

• The Trivium
• Grammar
• Rhetoric
• Logic
• The Quadrivium
• Arithmetic
• Geometry
• Music
• Astronomy

Liberation, Mastery
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CBA Fab Labs
Boston
(Computer Clubhouses, Congress, National
Academies, World Bank, )
space (?m), time (?s)
fabrication, instrumentation divides
Costa Rica
India
modular electronics
3D scan/mill
Norway
PCB fab
analytical instrumentation
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Fab Lab Processes

• Precision machining
• PCBs
• 3D output
• NC cutting
• flex circuits
• antennas
• interconnect
• masks

• Instrumentation
• optical spectroscopy
• microscopy
• metrology
• 3D scanning
• Instrumentation Development
• Towers
• Internet 0
• microcontroller programming

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Diesel Timing
(Kalbag, Ike Chuang, Amy Sun, Anil Bahuman)
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Appropriate Optical Spectroscopy
(Caroline McEnnis, Jason Taylor, Debu Goswami)
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The Tower
(Bakhtiar Mikhak, Chris Lyon)

• NC mill
• oscilloscope
• Net computer

• microcontroller
• A/D
• high-speed A/D
• keyboard
• camera
• SRAM

• FLASH
• DC motor
• servo motor
• solenoid
• LEDs
• LCD

• MIDI
• audio
• RS-232
• RS-485
• Tower bus
• I2C

• USART
• USB
• ethernet
• 802.11b
• protoboard
• clock

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Internet 0

• IP to leaf nodes
• bit size gt net size
• shared analog modulation
• peers dont need servers
• physical programming
• implement function, not spec
• open standards

(Raffi Krikorian, Sun, )
1-10
1-10kB
RS-485, IR, ultrasound, powerline,
power
programming
analog I/O
ethernet
serial
control
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CommodityIncrementalInfrastructure
BAWUG, OpenAP, mesh routing 1-200/hop
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Electronic Shepherd
(Haakon Karlson, Solvik Gård, Telenor)
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Lyn
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Debugging
(Delhi Clubhouse, Mitch Resnick)
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Sadbhavana
(Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray, ret.)
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To Follow Up
Cambridge Series on Information and the Natural
Sciences
Henry Holt and Company
http//cba.mit.edu/neilg
gersh_at_cba.mit.edu