Squishable computer runs calculations depending on how you squish it

Karmela Padavic- Callaghan is a writer.

Depending on how they are shaped, soft cube-shaped computers can perform different computations. The devices could be used to build a robot.

The technique for combining rows of blocks of rubber that have lines of silver-rubber compound was developed by Ryan Harne and his colleague. When connected to electricity, different configurations of the blocks act like different circuits, making a computer.

The team put together two numbers on the computer. A user would tell the computer which numbers to add by squeezing the component blocks to the left or right, connecting some of the silver-rubber lines that didn't touch before in such a way as to decode the numbers. A digital display was connected to the computer to show the result of the calculation.

Researchers created squishy computers that could be used to compare two numbers.

squishy computers wouldn't beat conventional computers by being faster or solving harder problems, but they could lead to softrobots that make decisions based on what they touch in their environment.

Harne envisions a soft computer that is integrated into a building. After a crumbling piece of rock applies pressure to the building, it may be necessary to fix it.

Harne says that his team is working on fine tuning the computer's "sense of touch" so that it can take inputs beyond the binaries.

There is a journal reference in Nature.