MOTION DETECTION SIMPLIFIED

摘要

It's relatively easy to find a complicated solution to a complicated problem, but it takes real creativity to find a simple solution. Accordingly, researchers at MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms (cba.mit.edu) have created a stir with a new concept for motion detection based on what is basically just a small metal bead suspended in a hole in a circuit board. A fluctuating electric field holds the bead in a tight orbit within the hole, and by detecting disturbances in the bead's orbit, one can sense the sensor's direction of motion.