Smart Bricks to Monitor Buildings of the Future

Roland Piquepaille writes "Scientists from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a "smart brick" which can monitor a building's health and report its conditions wirelessly. "This innovation could change the face of the construction industry," said Chang Liu, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Illinois. "We are living with more and more smart electronics all around us, but we still live and work in fairly dumb buildings. By making our buildings smarter, we can improve both our comfort and safety." Built into a wall, these bricks could monitor a building's temperature, vibration and movement. Such information could be vital to firefighters battling a blazing skyscraper, or to rescue workers ascertaining the soundness of an earthquake-damaged structure. These researchers also think these devices could help monitoring nurseries, daycares and senior homes. You'll find more details in this summary."

Brick

[Luigi30]

Will it shoot out gas when someone graffitis it?

Damn. THer goes one of my favorite expression

[Unknown Poltroon]

I guess i cant use "Dumb as a half pile of bricks" anymore.

wait a min...

[3ryon]

Such information could be vital to firefighters battling a blazing skyscraper...

Finally, a solution for all of those brick skyscrapers.

Re:Interesting, but...

[Timesprout]

If the brick says the buildings about to fall, what can the owners do?

Get on the phone to their brokers and triple their insurance policy

Re:Interesting, but...

[morbuz]

If the brick says the buildings about to fall, what can the owners do?

Get a good assurance really quick?

It's the apocolypse, people!

[Mr. Grimm]

First we give buildings the ability to feel. Then we let them think. Twenty years from now houses are eating families after they don't get the foundation fixed quick enough. Stop the madness!

mark of the brick

[freedommatters]

hey, it's this bit that gets me "These researchers also think these devices could help monitoring nurseries, daycares and senior homes"

how long before they are in ALL homes by law?

it's biblical. remember that bit about no one being able to buy or sell without the mark of the beast?

it was a bad translation, they meant mark of the brick - the one that says "quality bricks designed to last"

john
are you a weapon of male destruction? you need one of these snazzy t-shirts [wildjelly.com]

Ahh....the real reason for IPv6

[bravehamster]

Let's see....IPv6 should give us enough IP addresses so every brick can have their own address. Hope the building doesnt stop you from moving from one area to the other if you set your subnet wrong.

Destined for failure:

[Asprin]

Wow, it's gonna suck upgrading all of those when new a kernel comes out.

Re:Hehe Smart Bricks

[xphread]

construction material that provides feedback is likely better than construction material that does nothing but watch the paint flake

Yeah, thats a job for managers.

Re:Damn. THer goes one of my favorite expression

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess i cant use "Dumb as a half pile of bricks" anymore.

If the bricks end up running "Microsoft Windows for Brick Computing" as their OS, you still might be able to.

Now when the walls talk to me,

[Stephen Samuel]

I can't actually be sure I'm insane.

Re:Damn. THer goes one of my favorite expression

[bj8rn]

If they were really smart bricks, they would escape from the construction site before getting laid in the wall. But I guess you should still stop using this expression, as you're probably overusing it anyway.

Favorite quote

[serutan]

"In the gaming industry, wireless sensors attached to a personâ(TM)s arms and legs could replace the conventional joystick and allow a âcouch potatoâ(TM) to get some physical exercise while playing video games such as basketball or tennis."

I get it. Sort of like if they got off the couch and played the actual sport. Uh...

Re:I'm waiting for Smart Brick 2.0

[rkz]

and Smartbrick 3.11 which adds networking for small groups

IN SOVIET RUSSIA

[Eric Destiny]

in soviet russia, smart bricks monitor yoU!

fuck UIUC

[autopr0n]

My girlfriend transfered there and then broke up with me!

Erm, that's the way I like to remember it, anyway...

Re:Brick

[Anonymous Coward]

Shhh... be careful. The walls have ears.

Oblig: Beowulf Cluster...

[Anonymous Coward]

- Imagine a Beowulf Cluster of those things!
- Dude, its called a *wall*

movie

[Anonymous Coward]

Brickinator 3 rise of the bricks

Re:Interesting, but...

[blibbleblobble]

"If the brick says the buildings about to fall, what can the owners do?

Get on the phone to their brokers and triple their insurance policy"

Hopefully before the brick gets on the phone to your insurance company and triples the price of insurance...