14 DAY TRIAL // A new and energy-efficient mechanical computer is not only small and incredibly robust, but it was also inspired by the blueprint of a researcher, created by a scientist nearly 200 years ago. It would have been built in its time, it would have meant a computer revolution more than a century and a half before the invention of the modern ones.
Scientists of the University of Wisconsin-Madison put together the computer based entirely on the original unfinished sketches and think that this viable mechanical computer could be built from nanometer sized components, just billionths of a meter across.
Charles Babbage is the author of the first idea of a programmable computer, which was never actually built. The mechanical device was finally completed in 1991 and proved that the original idea would have worked, as it was built on tolerances achievable in the 19th century.
His "difference engine", consisted of more than 25,000 individual levers, ratchets and cogs and weighed more than 13 tons. Ships based on the design could be used in places, such as car engines, where silicon can be too delicate, said the report paper.
"What we are proposing is a new type of computing architecture that is only based on nano mechanical elements," said Professor Robert Blick of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and one of the authors of the paper.
"We are not going to compete with high-speed silicon, but where we are competitive is for all of those mundane applications where you need microprocessors which can be slow and cheap as well."
A nanoscale replica of the device could find many applications, as it could be built out of ultra-hard materials such as diamond or piezoelectric materials, which change shape when an electric current is applied.
Instead of using the movement of electrons around circuits to do useful calculations, the new model would only rely on the push and pull of each tiny part to carry out calculations. "We are quite confident that in a couple of years this work will lead to commercial applications," said Professor Blick.