University of Michigan beats IBM in miniature computer competition

Recently, the media, including "Young Technician", reported that IBM has built a record-breaking 1mm x 1mm device that meets the requirements for computer clarity. A few weeks later, the University of Michigan announced that its engineers had made a 0,3 x 0,3 mm computer that would fit on the tip of a grain of rice.

Competition in miniature computer competition has a longer history. Until the announcement of IBM's achievement in spring this year, the palm of priority belonged to the University of Michigan, which in 2015 built a record-breaking Micro Mote machine. Computers of such small dimensions, however, have limited possibilities, and their functionality would be reduced to single specific tasks. In addition, they do not store data in the event of a power loss.

Nevertheless, according to engineers from the University of Michigan, they can still have interesting applications. For example, they believe they can be used for eye pressure measurements, cancer research, oil tank monitoring, biochemical monitoring, small creature research and many other tasks.