Internet-scale Sensing: Are Biomimetic Approaches the Answer?

Throughout history, many inventions have been inspired by nature. For example, there are numerous examples of machines that imitate the shape or mechanism of animals and plants. Recently, scientists have named this phenomenon as ‘biomimetics’ and now actively search in nature for solutions to many complex problems. Living creatures have been optimized through thousands of years of evolution to achieve maximum efficiency with minimum energy consumption. This is also the goal that modern analytical devices are aiming for. We are looking for long-term deployment platforms to be applied, for example, for environmental monitoring and control or even for biomedical implants. For autonomous, field deployed systems, low power consumption is critical, in terms of detection, reagent control, and communications. In this article, we explore options for detecting colored analytes in microfluidic systems using low power LEDs, and the use of soft actuators for low power fluid control.