Microscopic Machines-1

The scientists and engineers in the USA have made a variety of gears, levers, rotor, and other mechanical parts the size of specks of dust. Such components may someday be assembled into tiny robots and various other kinds of microscopic machines designed to perform specific functions. The recent advances in the miniaturization of machine parts represent the beginnings of a new branch of engineering. A handful of relatively simple microdevices have already made it to the marketplace. But most currently available microdevices are sensors which react to changes in their environment, for example, by bending under pressure. Meanwhile, researchers are working on various kinds of microscopic actuators that may be perfected in the 1990’s. With the coming of the microelectronics revolution in the computer industry in the 1970’s, what had been fantasy suddenly seemed like a distinct possibility. Silicon seems likely to remain the primary microengineering material for some years, but scientists successes in using metals such as tungsten and nickel to create micromachine parts. Today, a growing number of researchers in the world are forging a new area of microscopic machines.

微型机械-1

美国的科学家和机械工程师已制成各种如尘埃般大小的齿轮，杠杆，和其他的机械部件。这些部件也可能在某一天装配到微型机器人或是其他能完成某些特定功能的微型机械上。如今在机械部件小型化方面取得的成就意味着一个全新的工程领域的开始。少数相关的简单微型设备已经在市场上有售。现在可利用的微型设备大多是传感器，但其往往受到环境变化的影响，如受弯力作用。在此期间，研究人员致力于在90年代可能完善的微型驱动器的研究。随着70年代的计算机微电子革命的发展，微型驱动装置如作梦般地一下子成为了可能。硅材料也可能在未来一些年中继续保持其主要微型机械材料的地位，但科学家已成功地使用钨和镍作为微型机械的部件材料。如今，世界上正不断增加的大量研究人员们将创造出微型机械的一片全新领域。

Microscopic Machines 2

Although microengineers may herald the beginning of a new machine age, researchers must first solve several fundamental problems. In addition, familiar phenomena such as friction, air resistance, electrical charge, wear, and the behavior of fluids , must be redefined because their effects are different at microscopic dimensions than in the everyday world. Overcoming such obstacles will undoubtedly keep engineers busy for years to come, but there is already cause for optimism. Now engineers are solving some of the warping and sticking problems that doomed their earliest micromotors to short lives. Another possibility is to build somewhat bigger micromachines. Ones that are perhaps 20 times the width of a human hair. In developing micromachines that would have to withstand harsh environments, such as those of outer space or the interior of jet engines. Because of the many obstacles that must be overcome, the micromachine Age –assuming there will be one—is unlikely to arrive until sometime after the year 2000.

微型机械2