On Feb. 3, 2006, Huikai Xie, a University of Florida assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, examines a tiny motion sensor that he and two graduate students recently designed. The sensor, located at the center of the device in Xie’s hand, is about 3 square millimeters, or one-tenth of an inch. While it is not the smallest sensor ever made, it is one of a new generation of sensors that can be manufactured cheaply and easily using the computer chip manufacturing industry’s standard technology. That means the motion sensors could soon become commonplace in devices ranging from laptops to medical devices.

(Kristen Bartlett/University of Florida)
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