A Spray-on Computer
From: Edinburgh Evening News - August 14, 2003
By: Fiona MacGregor

Edinburgh University researchers have received a grant of 1.3 million pounds
from the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council to develop ubiquitous
computing technology in which mote-sized computers can be sprayed on objects
and communicate their readings to each other wirelessly. "At the moment if
you want to interface you have to use a keyboard or a mouse, which is very
unwieldy," notes project leader Professor DK Arvid. "With this you could take
a pen and spray it and it becomes an interface in its own right." A working
version of the nano-computer technology is expected to be ready by 2007,
while Arvid believes hospitals, schools, and shops will be availing
themselves of the technology within a decade. Edinburgh scientists envision a
ubiquitous computing project in which heart patients can be monitored
unobtrusively at home by spraying the tiny computers onto their chests, where
they can take heart readings and relay the data to a hospital computer. The
success of the project will give Scotland and Edinburgh a prominent role in
the next IT wave. Bill Furness of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce adds that
the program could help the city become a world-class research and innovation
hub. Other Scottish institutions involved in the ubiquitous computing program
include the universities of Napier, Glasgow, St. Andrews, and Strathclyde. 

http://www.edinburghnews.com/index.cfm?id=891382003