Communications of the ACM
One of the World's Most Precise Microchip Sensors Created Thanks to a Spiderweb
Inspired by natures spider webs and guided by machine learning, Delft University of Technology researchers Richard Norte (left) and Miguel Bessa demonstrate a new type of sensor.
Credit: Frank Auperl
Spiderwebs inspired researchers at the Netherlands' Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) to design one of the world's most precise microchip sensors, which can operate at room temperature.
Said TU Delft's Richard Norte, "I realized spiderwebs are really good vibration detectors, in that they want to measure vibrations inside the web to find their prey, but not outside of it, like wind through a tree. So why not hitchhike on millions of years of evolution and use a spiderweb as an initial model for an ultra-sensitive device?"
TU Delft's Miguel Bessa said a Bayesian optimization algorithm was able to find a good design after just a few attempts.
From TU Delft (Netherlands)
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Abstracts Copyright © 2021 SmithBucklin, Washington, DC, USA
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