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MEMS Frontier Devices“Blue Devices” That Provide Comfort, Safety and Security

Yoshiro Mita, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
create moving life-sized posters orsigns that offer simultaneousinterpretation services.
The technical issues common to all of these devices are
twofold: how to achieve the necessary degree ofminiaturization, and how to create large-area screens. Morespecifically, the following are thought to be essential:- Commodification of high-end devices, reducing costs,achieving ease of assembly- Achieving large-area sheets, thinness and flexibility- Chemical applications for three-dimensional nanostructures
The following research and development topics will be
particularly important from this point on:- Technologies to integrate microcomponents over a large
poster-sized area
- Technologies that simplify assembly by completing a circuit
simply by using a sealing procedure to align and attach
modules (Technology that simplifies assembly processes(for example, configuring circuits by sticking modules
together in the same manner as using adhesive tape toattach things to one another)- Chemical applications for three-dimensional nanostructuresthat use the principle that the ratio of surface area tovolume increases when an object is made three-dimensional

On a recent business trip to France, I wrote an essay about
the fact that, up until around 20 years ago, the United Statesand Europe had seemed very far away. At that time, one of myformer teachers was living in the United States on a long-termbasis. He told me that, hungry for things written in the Japanese
language, he had read and reread all of the books that he hadbrought with him, even those that he would not ordinarily read.
The physical distance of around 10,000 kilometers between theUnited States and Japan has not changed. But now, even when
we go to the other side of the world, we do not feel that we arevery far away. The reason, of course, is the dramatic progress incellular telephones and the means of transmitting information
typified by the Internet. Now, wherever you are in the world,
there is an infrastructure in place that allows you to“connect.”We have entered an age in which, using the same cell
phone you use at home, you can easily communicate withfriends and family wherever you are.
Even while I was writing these words, however, I was
excited and fidgety and unable to calm myself. The reason wassimple. During the summer I had been in France away from myfamily in Japan, and I knew that tonight I would be reunited
with my wife and eight-month-old son for the first time in 40days. (I know that in Japan it is forbidden to bring up one’s
family in speeches of this kind, so I would ask you to apply theEuropean standard and forgive me.) Naturally my wife and I
called one another on the phone frequently, and in thebackground I could hear my son’s voice. But telephones do nottransmit the feel of the skin and the warmth of the body, so it isdifferent from actually being there. When you think about it, theinformation and telecommunications technologies of the 20 thcentury were successful at transmitting information over long
distances for only two of the five senses: seeing and hearing.
Even though we are now in our seventh year of the 21st century,
the transmission of information for the other three senses –smell, taste and touch – has not yet become viable. If we weresuccessful in transmitting these three senses, it would enablecommunication with a greater sense of actually being there.
Things would change from “home is so far away” to “home isalways nearby,” and it would undoubtedly have a revolutionary
impact on society.
In order for “blue devices” to enable people to have more
comfortable, more human lives, they must aim to create not only
sensors and actuators capable of transmitting information for all
five senses (not merely video and audio) but also “sixthsense”devices – devices that offer not second sight or the “sixsenses” of Buddhism (the five senses + innermost feelings or“heart”) but that sense physical and chemical quantities thatcannot be detected with the five senses available to humanbeings, such as imaging by means of infrared rays and terahertz
waves.
Naturally, the applications for these devices would not belimited only to the transmission of information. They could also
serve as “food security” devices: through the use of sheet-liketags that record changes in temperature and humidity, they
could be used to ensure that the environment for gourmet fooditems has been properly controlled, and guarantee the quality offood not by means of mechanical “sell-by” dates but bymonitoring the food itself for damage and determining the dateby when it should be consumed. Or they could be used as“caregiver” devices for in-home care use, detecting changes invital signs and out-of-the-ordinary behavior and otherabnormalities and issuing alerts on the network. The expecteddevelopment of these and other devices in the future will help
to ensure both safety and peace of mind. (Fig. 1)
As shown in Fig. 2, there will be three mounting modes for bluedevices: tag type, mobile device type and large-area sheet type.
Each type will be used where its features are most appropriate.
- Tag type: Supermarket price tags or smaller configurations.
As in the example of the food security device, thesewill be attached to an object and will keep records
over a long period of time.
- Mobile device: Similar to present-day cellular telephones. The
components in cellular telephones will continue
to become smaller and smaller with each newgeneration. However, from the standpoint ofusability, the terminal itself cannot get anysmaller. Accordingly, “blue devices” will beintegrated into the vacant space to function as“five sense” transmission devices.
- Large-area sheet type: Devices will be integrated into
posters or other display objects, orthe poster itself will be an electronicdevice. These devices will be used to

In any age, what is most important is to create a world inwhich communication between people is smoother, and in whichpeople can live with one another in peace and harmony. This is
why I eagerly await the day that “blue devices” can play animportant role in creating comfortable lifestyles and a peacefuland safe society thanks to communications utilizing all five senses.
At the department store

Caregiver devices
High-function
tags

Quality assurance
Historical management

In the office

Five-sense communication

In thehomeThe device reacts only whensomething is out of the ordinary"Blue Devices" Enrich Human Society
Integ ating sensors
Integratingand display
tile
panels into tile,
carpet andlarge surfaces
other large

Recreating the sense ofsmell and touch- Devices that make full use of all five senses- Large high-end monitoring devices become commodities- Devices that cover a large surface area, consume
little power and are easy to assemble become a reality

On street corners
Senses the number
deploof people and deploys
elevators to floors
elevators
Senses locations where
where
with a lot of people
people areare present
present andon a priority basis
heats only those areas
areas
Flat-panel screens provide information

Makes it easy to detect COand other hazardous
substances &environmental
substancesFig. 1 “Blue devices” have many different applications, from informationtransmission to historical monitoring to information-provision.
Tag type

Mobile devices

Chip / sheet
Data log
Environmental sensing

Five-sense communications
provide enhanced depth"Virtual secretary"
Security monitor

Large-area screen

Public bulletin board
Intelligent poster

Fig. 2 Three modes for “blue device” mounting
Table 1 “Blue Device” Working Group Members(in no particular order)
Yoshio Mita
Masakazu Sugiyama
Takao Someya
Masafumi Kimata
Susumu Sugiyama
Masaaki Ichiki
Masayoshi Higuchi
Yuji Saisho
Yasuro Irie
Shin ichi Izuo
Takaaki Hirata

6

The University of TokyoThe University of Tokyo
The University of Tokyo
Ritsumeikan University
Ritsumeikan University
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science andTechnology (AIST)

Omron Corporation
Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd.
Mizuho Information & Research Institute, Inc.
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Yokogawa Electric Corporation