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The toaster that says pop up and see me
Caroline Ditum makes friends with some smart technology How is
your toaster today? Happy? Or perhaps it's sulking because you've
been neglecting it? If you have no idea you can be forgiven for
now. Chances are it's not in touch with its feelings yet either.
But in the future there is a strong possibility it will not be
nearly so inanimate - not only having feelings but making them
known. Even more surprisingly, this is something we might want.
This could be largely thanks to Clifford Friend, from Cranfield
University, who is using smart materials in toasters and kettles
that have built-in "intelligence". But their toast-browning or
water-boiling ability won't be any superior, so why would we want
to buy them?
This isn't just some mad idea plucked out of the air by an over-enthusiastic
marketing specialist. Friend has done his homework. He investigated
how much people enjoy using certain products and why, and found
that the amount of pleasure attained increases if we are able
to develop a relationship with the appliance.
On a simple level, this theory has already been exploited by injecting
personality into otherwise characterless appliances; putting faces
on vacuum cleaners or programming "hello" messages into electrical
goods are clever design tricks which help us identify with products
by making them more like us, rather than an unintelligible gadget.
At the very least this might increase our tolerance of a product's
defects; we assume technology should work perfectly but we, after
all, are only human.
But what is it about these materials that makes them "smart"?
Although they often have the outward appearance of "normal" materials
- they can be metals, ceramics or polymers - they behave strangely
in certain circumstances.
For instance, some produce an electrical output when stretched
or squashed while others change colour, or even shape, as the
temperature varies. Although interesting scientifically, until
recently there often didn't seem to be much practical use for
them. But now scientists have begun using them in usually inanimate
objects making them seem, if not more alive, at least more aware
- closer in fact to biological systems which can respond to stimuli
such as light, warmth and pressure in real-time.
By using polymer or gels that change their physical response depending
on handling, Friend has created toasters that become "cuddly"
when handled gently. Use a less caring approach and they will
effectively give you the cold shoulder by becoming stiff and unresponsive.
The appliances aren't alive, but the extra animation sets them
apart from your average toaster.
Such applications may appear just an over-the-top attempt to provide
a further niche in the market, but there are more serious uses
for smart materials. If kitchen appliances are the plants of the
smart materials world, providing only reflex reactions to certain
stimuli, larger objects such as bridges, buildings and aeroplanes
could soon be showing the characteristics of more advanced biological
systems.
Scientists such as Prof Friend could be opening up the avenues
of communicating with them, becoming the Dr Dolittles of the engineering
world. Our nervous systems, for example, are constantly monitoring
the state of our bodies and are able to alert us, through pain,
when there is problem. Our bodies can perform minor repairs, such
as healing cuts and bruises automatically, or seek help with more
major problems.
Aeroplanes could soon be a little different. By incorporating
a network of smart optical fibres within the structure, scientists
in Toronto are trying to create "sensitive" aircraft. As the structure
is stretched and compressed the frequency of the light passing
down the fibres is modified and so they can act like a nervous
system for the plane, identifying "painful" areas on the body
of the aircraft that may need attention.
At Cranfield University they're investigating shape-changing alloys
which can push shut minor cracks that appear, similar to the ability
of our own bodies to heal themselves. In a further step towards
nature, shape-changing materials could also be used to change
the shape of the aeroplane during flight, mimicking the natural
ability of air- and land-based animals to adapt their shape to
gain aerodynamic advantages.
So while psychologists debate whether human IQ is increasing and
astronomers search the skies for evidence of new intelligent life,
inanimate objects around us are slowly evolving. In the future,
perhaps the smug-looking toasters sitting quietly in our kitchens
shouldn't be ignored; they might just be a lot smarter than they
look.
The author works at the Interdisciplinary Research Centre at the
University of Birmingham and came second in her category in the
young science writer awards, backed by
The Daily Telegraph and BASF. A new competition will
be launched later this year.
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