Castro 5
Nanorobotics
EE453 Project Report submitted by
Miguel Castro , Fall 2008
Introduction
Humanity has always found a way to improve technology. In this case, technological improvements mean a method to reduce the size of technology. Most people are infatuated with smaller and faster devices that consume less space and energy. The next step in our designs is the development of nanotechnology and more specifically, the creation of fully functional nanorobots.
Nanorobotics is defined as “field that deals with the controlled manipulation of objects with nanometer-scale dimensions” [1]. This implies any device that at the very least has a nanometer-scaled component. This can range from a fully functional microscopic robot with nanometer-sized functioning devices to a macroscopic device that manipulates nanometer-sized components. Now, one must understand the scale of things to be built in order to fully appreciate the technology. The figure below can hopefully put the size of a nanometer into prospective.
Nanometer in Perspective
Project Description
Every species is interested in its own survival. Scientist and engineers believe that the best way to continue our survival is to manipulate every problematic issue at its source. As of now, the smallest building block of matter is an atom. So, according to scientist and engineers—we should manipulate atoms in order to solve most, if not all, our problems. Therefore, in order to manipulate the source we must create devices that can perform such a task—nanorobots.
To begin, the medical field is most interested in the creation of nanorobots because they plan on actually changing the molecular structure of various chemicals, biological structures and working conditions for white blood cells in order to improve health among the entire world. For instance, by creating nanobots to detect early stages of cancer prior to any typical symptoms is one way that these miniscule deices can be implemented in the future.
Currently, testing has already taken place in laboratory rats to check that there is a difference between cancer cells and regular cells. If we compare the chemical differences between a regular cell and cancerous cells and notice any real difference between them the nanobots can be programmed to flow throughout the blood stream and destroy any cancerous cells that they find. Thankfully, there have been successful results in the laboratory rats and hopefully human studies will come shortly [2].
Nanobots Attacking Cancer Cells
The next most important use of nanorobotics in the medical field is a fight for a more user-friendly insulin administer-method. Since the cells of a human body can only detect foreign objects as small as a few hundred nanometers...it is important to be able to make devices smaller than this in order to avoid being detected. If nanorobots can avoid being detected than they can administer insulin doses to the body at the required times when they detect that more insulin is necessary. Once this has been created the entire diabetic community can rest easier knowing that they will never go into shock or possibly die because they lost, broke or forgot their insulin [3].
Interior of Insulin Nanobots
Of course, after this achievement has been reached it would not take much more to create a nanomachine that will be able to virtually replace a white blood cell’s tasks of properly maintaining the human body. Since these nanobots are much smaller than possible detection of human blood cells we will be able to have millions of these little creations flowing through our veins repairing all that the white blood cells normally do and more. The picture below is what theoretical nanobots will look like and their responsibilities in the human body. As doctors all know…the more that your body has to work in order to maintain itself, the shorter the life span a human being will have. In essence, the application of nanobots will extend the life of the average human being [4].
Nanobots replacing the White Blood Cells
Not only will the nanobots be useful in the medical field but also in other fields such as the Environmental Protection Agency. This group is always attempting to stop the vast pollutants of the world but find it difficult to get accurate reading without endangering the lives of their fellow employees. If the technology can adapt to their requests then they can distribute millions of nanobots in dangerous areas to perform measurements and calculations while EPA employees are at a safe distance [5]. Although it may be difficult to believe, some experts say that these nanobots will also be able to recreate any item that a person wishes for them to create. In the EPA world this means reconstructing the ozone and for the rest of the world this means major change.
Nanorobots in Hazardous Waste
Since these creations are very “nanoscopic” in size it only makes sense that they will be consuming minimal power, which is something that every financial decision revolves around in the modern world. And just to make things better for the implementation of these mini-devices…engineers want to make them solar powered. That would virtually be free labor and minimal cost. And to top things off…These devices are hopefully to be built with self replicating abilities [6]. In many eyes that is equivalent as “buy one…get an infinite for free”. However, there may be a down side to this and that is if anything should go wrong the nanobots will be an almost unstoppable force because they will not be able to be detected so easily. This is only a caution that many people believe but hopefully there will be a safety feature added to protect us all.
As stated earlier, nanobots are believed to have the ability to reconstruct surrounding molecules in order to create anything else. This means that there will no longer have to be giant factories that damage the ozone or pay people minimum wage to create something that barely works. This means that building and other large scale objects can be built in a fraction of the time it currently takes to build an equivalent item. This also means that poverty will be a thing of the past and people in Africa can eat what people in Asia normally eat. We will no longer have to be oblivious as to what an item is or how it works because we will have the ability to have it created in front of us. This further means that prosthetic limbs will be replaced by actual functioning body parts in matter of minutes and then have a great working system to cleanse it everyday [6].
All of this is just speculation and thought and theory because no nanobot have yet been created to perform these tasks (with the exception of the ones that were instilled in the laboratory rats. It is believed that these ideas will not be in play until at least a century from today with the earliest most basic nanobot being implemented in a test subject about fifty years from today. It is an idealistic dream that will hopefully come true in order to minimize suffering throughout the world.
References
1 http://www-lmr.usc.edu/~lmr/publications/nanorobotics/
2 http://nanobot.blogspot.com/2005/01/dendrimers-could-have-cancer-in-their.html
3 http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/678521/revolutionizing_diabetes_treatment.html
4 http://www.nanobot.info/
5 http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci514355,00.html
6 http://www.def-logic.com/articles/nanomachines.html