A huge number of devices we use every day has sensors which detect movements and are able to trigger other functions. They may be of minute size of a few micrometers and can measure speed, acceleration and shock in order to activate the airbags of cars in case of an accident. In science, they serve, among others, for early detection of earthquakes or volcano eruptions.
MEMS in fact may be interpreted as an invention within the spirit of the Blue Economy, because they replace "something" with "nothing". For instance, in a close future they can replace battery driven remote controls: simple gestures by hand will be enough to control the volume and change channels of a TV set.
Indian engineer Santosh Kumar has combined MEMS with transmitters and gyroscopes in order to develop battery-free devices which can be attached to valuable objects and, in case of theft, transmit the geographic position of the object to the police. Similar devices are also useful in medicine, for example during treatment of people addicted to substances, permitting the medical doctors to recognize and anticipate possible relapses.
