Computing with Liquid Marbles

我们打算用液体弹珠制作计算设备。液体大理石（LM）是一种涂有亲水性粉末的液滴，使其能够像软固体一样被操纵。涂层防止液体润湿载体表面，因此LMs通过长距离输送液体而不损失质量和以最小的能量。涂层-液体对决定了LM的性质和操作方案。LM可以通过机械和电磁方式操纵。所提出的计算方案受到保守逻辑和基于碰撞的计算的启发。基于碰撞的计算采用移动紧凑有限模式。信息值（如逻辑变量的真值）由局部化的存在或缺失或局部化的其他参数给出。定位在空间中传播，并在它们相互碰撞时进行计算。介质空间的几乎任何部分都可以用作导线。局部化经历转换，它们改变速度，形成束缚态，当它们与其他局部化相互作用时湮灭或融合。将定位的信息值作为碰撞的结果进行变换，从而实现计算。我们将生产LMs计算设备：基于碰撞的逻辑门级联，加法器和算术逻辑单元，其中数据信号由LMs表示，以及LMs或双稳定触发器元素的计算结果。用LMs制造的计算设备是完全机械的，在结构和操作上很容易扩展到化学或机电，允许在计算机中实现初级指令，具有以下优点：功能是不言而喻的，不需要专门的电子知识来操作LMs计算机，所提出的原型将是简单耐用的结构和廉价的制造，操作的原则是清楚可见的。

We propose to make computing devices from liquid marbles. A liquid marble (LM) is a liquid droplet coated with hydrophilic powder which enables the LM to be manipulated like a soft solid. The coating prevents the liquid to wet the carrier surface thus LMs transport liquid through large distances without loss of mass and with minimum energy. Coating-liquid pair determines a LM's properties and manipulation schemes. LM can be manipulated mechanically and electromagnetically. Computing schemes proposed are inspired by conservative logic and collision-based computation. A collision-based computation employs mobile compact finite patterns. Information values (e.g. truth values of logical variables) are given by either absence or presence of the localisations or other parameters of the localisations. The localisations travel in space and do computation when they collide with each other. Almost any part of the medium space can be used as a wire. The localisations undergo transformations, they change velocities, form bound states, annihilate or fuse when they interact with other localisations. Information values of localisations are transformed as a result of collision and thus a computation is implemented. We will produce LMs computing devices: cascades of collision-based logical gates, an adder and an arithmetic-logical unit, where data signals are represented by the LMs, and results of computation by either LMs or bi-stable flip-flop elements. The computing devices made with LMs are completely mechanical and easily extendable to chemical or electromechanical in construction and operation, permit the achievement of elementary level instructions in computers with the following benefits: the functioning is self-evident, no specialised knowledge of electronics is required to operate the LMs computer, the prototypes proposed will be simple and durable constructions and inexpensive to manufacture, the principles of operation are clearly observable.