Capabilities of Catoms

While catoms will be simple in design, each will have four capabilities:

Ø  Computation: Researchers believe that catoms could take advantage of existing microprocessor technology. Given that some modern microprocessor cores are now under a square millimetre, they believe that a reasonable amount of computational capacity should fit on the several square millimetres of surface area potentially available in a 2mm-diameter catom.

Ø  Motion: Although they will move, catoms will have no moving parts. This will enable them to form connections much more rapidly than traditional microrobots, and it will make them easier to manufacture in high volume. Catoms will bind to one another and move via electromagnetic or electrostatic forces, depending on the catom size.
              Imagine a catom that is close to spherical in shape, and whose perimeter is covered by small electromagnets. A catom will move itself around by energizing a particular magnet and cooperating with a neighbouring catom to do the same, drawing the pair together. If both catoms are free, they will spin equally about their axes, but if one catom is held rigid by links to its neighbours, the other will swing around the first, rolling across the fixed catom's surface and into a new position. Electrostatic actuation will be required once catom sizes shrink to less than a millimetre or two. The process will be essentially the same, but rather than electromagnets, the perimeter of the catom will be covered with conductive plates. By selectively applying electric charges to the plates, each catom will be able to move relative to its neighbours.

Ø  Power: Catoms must be able to draw power without having to rely on a bulky battery or a wired connection. Under a novel resistor-network design the researchers have developed, only a few catoms must be connected in order for the entire ensemble to draw power. When connected catoms are energized, this triggers active routing algorithms which distribute power throughout the ensemble.

Ø  Communications: Communications is perhaps the biggest challenge that researchers face in designing catoms. An ensemble could contain millions or billions of catoms, and because of the way in which they pack, there could be as many as six axes of interconnection.
            Another unique feature of catom networks is that catoms are homogeneous. Thus, unlike cell phones or other communications devices, the identity of an individual catom is sometimes (but not always) unimportant. An application is more likely to care about routing a message to the catoms comprising a specific physical part of an ensemble (for instance, the catoms comprising a "hand") rather than sending the same message to specific catoms based on their serial numbers. Furthermore, catoms may be in motion periodically, as the shape of the ensemble changes.

Ø  Creating the replica:   At a high level, there are two steps :

·         Capturing a moving, three-dimensional image and

·         rendering it as a physical object.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University also are exploring 3D image capture, in the Virtualized Reality project. They have developed technology that points a set of cameras at an event and enables the viewer to virtually fly around and watch the event from a variety of positions. The DPR researchers believe a similar approach could be used to capture 3D scenes for use in creating physical, moving 3D replicas.

Replicas will be created from Catoms. Catoms can be formed into different shapes, and it can change color, through light-emitting diodes on its surface. Embedded photo cells will enable it to sense light, so that a human replica can "see." Catoms might even simulate the texture of the person or object being replicated. A replica will have computing capabilities, but these will be accessed through touch, voice, or another natural interface rather than a keyboard or mouse. Catoms will be as close to spherical as possible to support multiple packing densities.