Inspired by musical greeting cards, DARPA demands tiny, cheap, self-modifying systems
"The computation itself has become virtually free; the physical resources required to sustain, house, and power it have become the critical bottleneck." REG AD googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('labrador/thereg/article/desktop/b'); }); DARPA isn't trying to miniaturize a datacenter, in other words. This is specifically about what it said is a "resource paradox" at the low end of the computing spectrum, and it's one the Pentagon's research arm thinks is ripe for exploitation to power battlefield computing needs. REG AD googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('labrador/thereg/article/desktop/c'); }); To that end, DARPA said it's seeking concepts that address areas like operating with little power and memory, tolerating unreliable components, and requiring little technological sophistication.
- ▪"The computation itself has become virtually free; the physical resources required to sustain, house, and power it have become the critical bottleneck." REG AD googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('labrador/thereg/article/deskt
- ▪This is specifically about what it said is a "resource paradox" at the low end of the computing spectrum, and it's one the Pentagon's research arm thinks is ripe for exploitation to power battlefield computing needs.
- ▪REG AD googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('labrador/thereg/article/desktop/c'); }); To that end, DARPA said it's seeking concepts that address areas like operating with little power and memory, tolerating unreliable component
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
(function() { let windowUrl = window.location.href; windowUrl = windowUrl.substring(windowUrl.indexOf('?') + 1); let messageElement = document.querySelector('.shareableMessage'); if (windowUrl && windowUrl.includes('code') && windowUrl.includes('expires')) { messageElement.style.display = 'block'; } })(); offbeat Inspired by musical greeting cards, DARPA demands tiny, cheap, self-modifying systems One can't help but see a very clear instance of the triple constraint problem in action here Brandon Vigliarolo Brandon Vigliarolo Published mon 22 Jun 2026 // 17:30 UTC What do the first general-purpose programmable electronic computer and greeting cards that play musical jingles have in common? DARPA cites both of them as the inspiration for a project seeking low-resource computing paradigms…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at theregister.