Freescale claims this is the world’s smallest ARM-based minicomputer. Picture: ARM Source: Supplied
WE’VE seen technology you can wear like Google Glasses or Pebble watches, but what if it was so small you could eat it?
Technology company Freescale has developed a microchip so small that it measures at 1.9 by 2 millimetres.
It claims that it is the world’s smallest ARM powered microcontroller.
The chip includes a 32-bit ARM Cortex-MO processor, 4KB or RAM, 32KB of flash memory and can operate at temperatures between -40C to 85C.
Director of ARM’s Embedded Processor Products, Richard York said that the chip could be ingested and used to monitor people’s health.
“Another topic that is often speculated about is the world of sensors and that we can swallow, either to see what is going on from the inside or to deliver drugs to exactly the part of our digestive system for greatest effect,” he wrote on the company’s blog.
“Tiny micros are going to be essential to make such things a reality.”
This gives a whole new meaning to the term “movable feast”.
So far there has been no mention of how long it would last in the human digestion system before being.. erm.. flushed.
But at 75 cents each you could afford to have your chip and eat it too.
That is if Freescale decides to stop selling them in 100,000 blocks. A batch of chips which will be available to lead customers for sampling next month at a pretty sum of US$ 75,000.
The micro-computer could also be used in wearable and portable electronic devices and remote sensors, the company said.
The chip is part of the company’s vision to make The Internet of Things a reality – a term used to identify internet connected devices with the goal of connecting all objects and people to the web.
Edible chip a movable feast
No comments:
Post a Comment