There's some interesting history behind the world's smallest motor. In 1959, Feynman gave a talk, "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom", which kind of invented the field of nanotechnology. He discussed how you could use tools to build smaller tools, and then smaller tools, until you could manipulate matter on the atomic scale.
To motivate the development of micro-tools, Feynman offered a $1000 prize (more than $10,000 in current dollars), to anyone who could build a motor smaller than 1/64" on a side. Less than a year later, a Caltech grad won the prize, creating the motor with "a watchmaker's lathe, a microscope, and sharp toothpicks." Although the motor won the prize, it was a disappointment because it didn't use any new technologies or make any advances toward nanotechnology.
It wasn't until 1985 that Feynman's second challenge was won: scaling down a page of text by a linear factor of 25,000. A Stanford grad student reduced a page from A Tale of Two Cities to a 5.9µm square.
A funny detail about this is that Feynman hadn't bothered to budget the $1000 for the prize. He thought someone would have to invent new tech to build the motor which would take years. If he had just gone a little smaller, say 1/100th of an inch instead of 1/64th, he might have gotten his wish.
Despite his disappointment he did keep his word and pay the prize. His wife was not happy.
chaosprint 6 hours ago [-]
Very impressive.
Btw does anyone know if there are any larger, mass-producible micromotors on the market that can be used to make products similar to the smartknob?
It is of course gigantic compared to the motor from the article.
I have no real use for it other than the aesthetic appeal of a tiny mechanism, but perhaps one day I'll need something precisely moved by less than a centimetre occasionally.
blutack 10 hours ago [-]
They also made a manual expresso machine, although I don't know if they continued production after the initial kickstarter run.
Their “Fulcrum” design looks quite similar to a Flair espresso. I mean, it isn’t a complicated concept (just a press), but the resemblance is noticeable.
gabrielhidasy 7 hours ago [-]
And the "Helix" design looks just like the Aram espresso, a bit less obvious concept (a screw), but very similar.
To motivate the development of micro-tools, Feynman offered a $1000 prize (more than $10,000 in current dollars), to anyone who could build a motor smaller than 1/64" on a side. Less than a year later, a Caltech grad won the prize, creating the motor with "a watchmaker's lathe, a microscope, and sharp toothpicks." Although the motor won the prize, it was a disappointment because it didn't use any new technologies or make any advances toward nanotechnology.
It wasn't until 1985 that Feynman's second challenge was won: scaling down a page of text by a linear factor of 25,000. A Stanford grad student reduced a page from A Tale of Two Cities to a 5.9µm square.
Links: https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/3479/1/Tale.pdf https://books.google.com/books?id=iXcmTROdA1EC&pg=RA2-PA10 https://archive.org/details/noordinarygenius00feyn/page/174/... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_Plenty_of_Room_at_th...
Despite his disappointment he did keep his word and pay the prize. His wife was not happy.
Btw does anyone know if there are any larger, mass-producible micromotors on the market that can be used to make products similar to the smartknob?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q76dMggUH1M&t=100s
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005915555405.html
It is of course gigantic compared to the motor from the article.
I have no real use for it other than the aesthetic appeal of a tiny mechanism, but perhaps one day I'll need something precisely moved by less than a centimetre occasionally.
https://www.chronova-engineering.co.uk/epoch