Specknet

One of my favorite concepts in ubiquitous computing is William Butera's idea of "paintable computing" (big Ph.D. PDF here). (Neil Gershenfeld described it nicely at Doors of Perception 7.) Via Smart Mobs, I came across an article in Discover on the "Specknet" project that aims to bring this a little closer to reality (though doubtless there are highly technical differences between the two projects that I haven't parsed):

Grain-sized semiconductors could one day be sprayed onto surfaces like paint onto walls to give computers access to places previously out of reach.

The so-called Specknet combines sensing, computer processing and wireless communication to link the physical and digital world in a kind of computational aura.

Thousands of tiny computers could be used for a variety of applications ranging from detecting structural failures in aircraft wings, to rehabilitating stroke victims, to capturing body motions for use in animations....

[I]n a Specknet, each sensor has its own processor, about two kilobytes of memory, and a program that gives it the ability to extract information from the environment, collaborate with other local specks, and act on the data gathered.

It's a dense network of sensors that communicate with each other over tens of centimeters, which reduces the energy required to transmit the information.

Additionally, each sensor can be programmed to carry out different operations at different times, depending on the need.

For example, a doctor could cover a stroke patient's clothing with specks to monitor their physical abilities remotely. The specks could track the patient's movements, store the information, compare it with previous data, and initiate some kind of response, such as lighting up diodes in areas where muscle performance is strong to encourage the patient's progress.

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