Mechanical computing
Mechanical computing
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DOI：
10.1038/s41586-021-03623-y
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发表时间：
2021-10-07
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
Raney, Jordan R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Yasuda, Hiromi;Buskohl, Philip R.;Raney, Jordan R.
几千年来，机械装置一直被用来处理信息，著名的例子包括古希腊的安提基特拉机械装置和查尔斯·巴贝奇的分析机器。最近，电子形式的计算和信息处理已经超过了这些机械形式，这是由于小型化和集成化的潜力更大。然而，最近引入了一些非常规的计算方法，这些方法融合了信息处理，材料科学和机器人技术的思想。这提高了新的机械计算系统的可能性，这些系统通过与环境交互并适应环境来增强传统的电子计算。在这里，我们讨论使用的机械机制，以及相关的非线性，作为一种处理信息的手段，与viewtoward一个框架，其中适应性强的材料和结构作为一个分布式信息处理网络，甚至使信息处理被视为一种材料属性，除了传统的材料属性，如强度和刚度。我们专注于机械系统中抽象数字逻辑的方法，讨论这些系统与传统电子计算的不同之处，并强调它们所带来的挑战和机遇。
Mechanical mechanisms have been used to process information for millennia, with famous examples ranging from the Antikythera mechanism of the Ancient Greeksto the analytical machines of Charles Babbage. More recently, electronic forms of computation and information processing have overtaken these mechanical forms, owing to better potential for miniaturization and integration. However, several unconventional computing approaches have recently been introduced, which blend ideas of information processing, materials science and robotics. This has raised the possibility of new mechanical computing systems that augment traditional electronic computing by interacting with and adapting to their environment. Here we discuss the use of mechanical mechanisms, and associated nonlinearities, as a means of processing information, with a viewtowards a framework in which adaptable materials and structures act as a distributed information processing network, even enabling information processing to be viewed as a material property, alongside traditional material properties such as strength and stiffness. We focus on approaches to abstract digital logic in mechanical systems, discuss how these systems differ from traditional electronic computing, and highlight the challenges and opportunitiesthat they present.