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Developing StiMote, a wireless neural stimulator for restoring vision
The highly collaborative project will leverage many tiny sensing computers, called “motes,” to communicate with the visual cortex of the brain.Science: March 12, 2024
This tiny swimming robot can think for itself
With the help of the Michigan Micro Mote, researchers at U. Pennsylvania have developed programmable microscopic autonomous robots. David Blaauw and Dennis Sylvester were collaborators on the paper presented at an American Physical Society meeting in March 2024.January 12, 2024
$900,000 Awarded to Optimize Graphene Energy Harvesting Devices
Prof. David Blaauw is part of University of Arkansas research project that's working to develop graphene energy harvesters. Blaauw will oversee fabrication of the “Michigan Micro-Mote” sensors custom designed for seamless integration with each type of graphene power harvester.Olivia Lee awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowship for brain-machine interfaces that could improve control of robotic prostheses
Lee designs implantable and wearable electronics to help restore movement to those who have lost limbs or have been paralyzed.Innovation Nation: October 8, 2022
These Tiny Sensors Are Saving Snails
This video shows how the Michigan team's tiny computers (called the Michigan Micro Mote) are being used for conservation efforts for even small invertebrates.Science Daily: May 4, 2022
Tiny sensor used to track the migratory patterns of monarch butterflies
ECE alumnus and now U Pittsburgh professor Inhee Lee talks about a now multi-institutional collaboration involving U-M, the M3 and the monarch butterfly.Michigan Radio: August 26, 2021
Tiny snail computers
Michigan Radio talks about innovative technology that came out of ECE and EEB to help figure out what’s killing tiny snails.July 30, 2021
Snail Computers
Prof. David Blaauw talks with BYUradio about the Michigan Micro Mote and how it helped solve a snail mass extinction mystery.CBC: July 19, 2021
Tiny computers mounted on snail shells helped reveal how one species escaped extinction
In this feature story, CBC showcases the new study done by ECE and EEB researchers using the Michigan Micro Mote to learn how some snails use sunlight to hide from invasive predatorsCBC: July 16, 2021
A tribal chief
CBC's "As It Happens" interviewed U-M EEB researcher Cindy Bick on how snails & the world's smallest computer helped solve a Tahitian mass extinction mystery w/ a suspect “wolf in snail’s clothing” & how sunshine and white shells saved the day (starts at 21:10)The New York Times: July 13, 2021
How Do You Solve an Extinction Mystery? Put a Tiny Computer on a Snail.
The New York Times features the Michigan Micro Mote and how it helped solve a mass extinction snail survivor mystery.June 18, 2021
Snail Survivors (The Poetry of Science)
UK author of the blog "The Poetry of Science" wrote a poem called Snail Survivors about the research collaboration between developers of the world's smallest computer and biologists.CNET: June 17, 2021
World's smallest computer helps solve mystery of snail species survival
This partnership between biologists and engineers yields scientific insights into a surviving species of Tahitian tree snails, while also proving the viability for very small animal studies using the Michigan Micro Mote.Snails carrying the world's smallest computer help solve mass extinction survivor mystery
The study yields new insights into the survival of a native snail important to Tahitian culture and ecology and to biologists studying evolution, while proving the viability of similar studies of very small animals including insects
Entrepreneur Dr. Scott Hanson awarded 2020 ECE Alumni Rising Star Award
Hanson is founder and CTO of Ambiq Micro, a startup semiconductor company that works to advance ultra-low power electronics for next generation Internet of Things.
University of Pittsburgh: November 9, 2020
Tracking Monarch Butterfly Migration with the World’s Smallest Computer-Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh highlights the contribution of Inhee Lee, an ECE alum, in the project using Michigan Micro Motes to track monarch butterfly migration.Phys.org: October 28, 2020
Tracking monarch butterfly migration with the world's smallest computer
Phys.org re-publishes our piece on how researchers from ECE and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology are using the Michigan Micro Mote to track monarch migration in unprecedented ways.Tracking Monarch Butterfly Migration with the World’s Smallest Computer
In a project funded by National Geographic, ECE researchers are teaming up with the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology to advance our understanding of monarch butterfly migration with the most ambitious iteration of the Michigan Micro Mote yet.
August 12, 2020
Monarch Conservation Spotlight: M3 Monarch Migration Study
The “Monarch Conservation Spotlight” series highlights impactful projects, programs and organizations working hard to address the declining trend across North American monarch populations, including those involved in a project to track Monarch butterflies: Professors David Blaauw, Hun-Seok Kim, InHee Lee, and Andre Green.David Blaauw named Kensall D. Wise Collegiate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Blaauw’s innovations in low-power computing led to development of the Michigan Micro Mote, the world’s smallest computer.
Two ‘U’ researchers receive Distinguished University Innovator Award
The Michigan Daily profiles Professors David Blaauw and Dennis Sylvester, who are this year’s recipients of the 2019 Distinguished University Innovator Award.A high-efficiency GaAs solar cell to power the Internet of Tiny Things
The Michigan Micro Mote gets a new gallium arsenide solar cell for added power and adaptability.
Communicating with the world’s smallest computers
Researchers built the first millimeter-scale transmitter and antenna that can talk Bluetooth Low Energy with ease.
Crain's Detroit Business: August 14, 2018
University of Michigan team creates an even smaller world’s smallest ‘computer
MLive.com: August 3, 2018
Computer the size of a speck of dust created at University of Michigan
EECS professors David Blaauw, Dennis Sylvester and Jamie Phillips and BE professor Gary Luker discuss the world’s smallest computer.
Popular Mechanics: July 5, 2018
The Smallest Computer in the World Fits On a Grain of Rice
The University of Michigan just defeated IBM in creating this tiny computing device designed by ECE Professors David Blaauw and Dennis Sylvester.Popular Mechanics: June 30, 2018
The Smallest Computer in the World Fits On a Grain of Rice
The University of Michigan just defeated IBM in creating this tiny computing device.An even smaller world’s smallest ‘computer’
The latest from IBM and now the University of Michigan is redefining what counts as a computer at the microscale.
Seed-sized U-M computers pumped into oil wells featured at the Houston Museum of Natural Science
Millimeter-sized computers log the temperature and pressure from deep within oil wells.
Michigan’s millimeter-scale computers featured at ISSCC2017, and in IEEE Spectrum
Professors Blaauw and Sylvester showcase capabilities of tiny computing
Alum startup wins $25,000 at Accelerate Michigan Competition
Movellus Circuits won $25,000 in the University Research Highlight and People’s Choice categories
Injectable computers
With a radio specifically designed to communicate through tissue, researchers from the Electrical and Computer Engineering are adding another level to a computer platform small enough to fit inside a medical grade syringe.
MBus is the missing interconnect for millimeter-scale systems
The M3 is a fully autonomous computing system that acts as a smart sensing system.
CBS News: April 16, 2015
This is the world's smallest computer
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 smallest autonomous computer in the world.Michigan Micro Mote (M3) makes history as the world’s smallest computer
A brief history of what led to the technical feat known as the Michigan Micro Mote, a tiny speck of a computer that does it all.Forbes: September 17, 2014
These Energy-Saving, Batteryless Chips Could Soon Power The Internet Of Things
Leaders in ultra low power cicuits and systems presenting at VLSI Circuits Symposium
All of the research being presented focuses on getting the absolute best performance from the tiniest circuits, sensors, and electronic devices.
Making smart dust a reality
This research is expected to have a fundamental and long term impact on a diverse set of applications ranging from energy conservation to health care.
CNET: February 22, 2011
Researchers unveil first mm-scale computing system
Researchers at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco demonstrate a prototype implantable eye pressure monitor and a tiny new radio.Toward computers that fit on a pen tip: New technologies usher in the millimeter-scale computing era
U-M faculty have developed what is believed to be the first complete millimeter-scale computing system, with applications in radio communication and wireless sensing.
Paving the way for ubiquitous computing
Until now, ubiquitous computing has been hampered by the size of necessary batteries—but Ambiq Micro is changing that, with their energy-efficient micro-controllers.
Millimeter-scale, energy-harvesting sensor system developed
The system could enable new biomedical implants as well as home-, building- and bridge-monitoring devices.