Last year, a tiny semiconductor design startup, BeSang Inc., announced a breakthrough in 3-D chip fabrication. Specifically, it touted a new technique for radically improving the performance and cost-effectiveness of chips produced by conventional chip manufacturing processes.

The technique itself was developed by BeSang, based in Beaverton, Ore., with the assistance of Stanford University’s nanofabrication researchers. For the first time, BeSang claimed, chips could grow upward, not just outward, without significantly raising costs.

At the time, I doubted implementation would come anytime soon. Apparently, I was wrong. BeSang and Stanford have just announced that their 3-D IC manufacturing process is available for licensing now.

Needless to say, I’ll be watching BeSang and its 25 patents in case it goes public.

My point, however, is that Moore’s Law is going to hold. The number of transistors that can be inexpensively placed on an integrated circuit will continue to double approximately every two years. New technologies and products will continue to emerge.

Moreover, they will yield the kind of profits that come only from breakthrough, transformative industries. Robotics is one of them. Count on it.

Let me give you just one more chip breakthrough set to maintain this breakneck pace. This one could actually be more significant, because it isn’t about transistor density. It is about the way that chips work.

Memristors Coming Soon

Since 1971, computer scientists have theorized about memristors. This hypothetical component would maintain information without electrical currents, but function as dynamic RAM memory.

This is a huge deal. Computers with memristors would be faster and require less power. Booting would be nearly instantaneous. On/off buttons could become irrelevant, except to avoid accidental activation. Battery life for mobile devices, including robots, would be extended significantly.

HP proved that it could, in theory, make these once mythological “fourth components” using new nanotech tools. When I reported its claims, though, I speculated in vague terms about future production. Honestly, I was thinking four or five years out. According to the reliable EETimes, HP Labs will produce prototypes next year. Commercialization is expected to follow quickly.

In the space of months, the IC road map has changed profoundly. Once again, chip designers are going “back to drawing board” to rethink the future of microprocessors. Specific to this issue, memristors, combined with increased chip density and more efficient batteries, are exactly what it will take to move robotics to the next level.

The Incredible Promise of Robotics

Today, there are about one million industrial robots in service. That number is increasing over 10% annually. The international automotive industry depends entirely on robots, as do several other manufacturing fields.

Chip manufacturing, biotech and pharmaceutical companies rely on robotics to perform precise and repetitive functions in environments intolerable to humans. Also relevant to a subject covered in this issue, robotics will be central to the commercialization of stem cell therapies.

Another area of rapid robotic growth is security and defense. Some of the earliest recognizable robots were remote-controlled bomb detonation units. Today, unmanned military vehicles can pilot themselves in hazardous situations. Some are simple devices used for bomb inspections and detonation. Some are sophisticated mobile weapons systems. Many are utility vehicles ranging from self-driving trucks to relatively small “PackBots” that climb stairs, risk tripwires, find land mines and look around corners. Some are armed and can be fired remotely or return fire automatically. Though the public may not think of them as robots, automated missile systems have been around for decades.

I recently found a company that is really set to take advantage of this surge of chip technology and robots. Unfortunately, it’s far too small to include in such a large publication like Penny Sleuth. That’s why I saved it for my Breakthrough Technology Alert subscribers.

For transformational profits,
Patrick Cox
September 16, 2008

Patrick Cox

Patrick Cox has lived deep inside the world of transformative technologies for over 25 years. In the 1980s, he worked in computer software development and manufacturing. By the mid-1990s, he worked as a consultant for Netscape — the company that handled 90% of all Internet browsing traffic at the time. InfoWorld and USA Today have featured Patrick’s research many times. He’s also appeared on Crossfire and Nightline. This expertise bought him to Agora Financial, where he now heads Breakthrough Technology Alert, the only place you’ll find the truly transformational technologies that offer exponential gains.

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