Computers used to consume whole rooms, but now one computer can fit on the edge of a nickel. At just one millimeter cubed, the Michigan Micro Mote (M^3) is the smallestautonomous computer in the world.

最初的計算機要占用整個房間的空間，現(xiàn)在最小的電腦和硬幣厚度一樣。只有一立方毫米，M^3是世界上最小的電腦。

For over a decade, the faculty and students at the University of Michigan's computer science department have been working on the M^3. As the Internet of Things (IoT) gets bigger, the Michigan team is pushing to make computers ever smaller.

十多年來，密歇根大學(xué)的計算機科學(xué)系的教師和學(xué)生致力于研發(fā)M^3。隨著物聯(lián)網(wǎng)的規(guī)模越來越大，密歇根這個研究團隊把電腦設(shè)計得更加輕巧。

Despite its tiny size, the M^3 has the ability to take pictures, read temperatures and record pressure readings. Researchers hope to implement the microcomputer into a variety of applications ranging from medical to industrial purposes.

盡管M^3的尺寸微小，但它能拍照，能測溫度和壓力。研究人員希望從醫(yī)療到工業(yè)實現(xiàn)微機用到各種應(yīng)用程序中。

Due to its micro-size, the M^3 can actually be injected into the body, where it can then perform ECGs and also take pressure and temperature readings. The oil industry is also interested in inserting the Micro Mote into oil wells to help detect pockets of oil that can still be extracted before moving on to new sources.

因其尺度微小，其實，M^3可以注植入體內(nèi)，還可以做心電圖，測量壓力和溫度。石油行業(yè)也對未來能將M^3插入油井而很感興趣，在開采新能源之前，它可以幫助檢測石油的剩余儲量。

The Michigan faculty sees the Micro Mote as a way to never lose anything again. The vision is that people would buy a couple of M^3s and stick the computers to their keys, wallet, and anything else they don't want to lose. And using a central system, people would be able to locate their belongings within the confines of their home.

密歇根大學(xué)的教師認為這款微機再也不會被弄丟了，買一對系在鑰匙上，或放在錢包里，或安置在不易丟失的地方即可。還可以使用中央處理系統(tǒng)把它定位在可尋范圍內(nèi)。

As the tech industry pursues the IoT movement, size and power are everything. In order to make the micro mote as unobtrusive as possible, the scientists had to find a way to scale down the computer's battery size.

隨著科技行業(yè)所追求的物聯(lián)網(wǎng)運動，機身大小和電池電量就是戰(zhàn)勝一切的法寶。為了讓它盡量不引人注目，科學(xué)家們必須想方法減少電腦電池的大小。

"What people don't realize is a very large part of the volume of a computer for instance in a cellphone is actually consumed by the battery," said David Blaauw, professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan. "So by bringing down the power, we can bring down the battery size, and we can bring down the whole system down in size."

據(jù)密歇根大學(xué)電氣工程和計算機科學(xué)教授大衛(wèi)·布勞所說，“人們沒有意識到電腦自身體積大則耗很一大部分的電量，例如，手機電池的電量實際上是被手機自身所消耗掉。”“通過降低耗電量的方式，我們可以設(shè)計小電池來降低整個設(shè)備系統(tǒng)的尺寸。”

With no space for a keyboard, mouse or display, the faculty and students had to invent a different way to communicate with the micro mote. The M^3 is programmed and charged via light. By strobing light at a high frequency, the operator is able to send information to the computer. Once the Micro Mote processes the data, it is able to send the information to a central computer via conventional radio frequencies.

沒有設(shè)計鍵盤、鼠標或顯示器的空間，教師和學(xué)生發(fā)明了一種與M^3交流的方式。把M^3編程通過光來充電。通過高頻率的頻閃光，操作員可以將信息發(fā)送到計算機。M^3處理數(shù)據(jù)時，它可以通過傳統(tǒng)的無線電頻率發(fā)送信息到中央計算機。