Post on 18-Dec-2015
Introduction
• Definition of nanorobotics• History and origin of nanorobotics• Current status of small robotics• Methods to build nanoscale components• Technical challenges in building nanoscale
components• Applications• Ethical concerns
Nanorobotics
• Two definitions– An automated or semi-automated device used in
the construction of nanorobots– An active structure at the nanoscale (1 nm to 1
µm) that has movement, sensing, signaling, information processing, or swarm behavior capabilities.
History and Origin of Nanorobotics
• Richard Feynman– 1959 lecture “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom”
• Manipulating matter at the atomic scale• “Swallowing the doctor.”
• Improvements in microscopy– Optical microscopes give about 200 nm of resolution– Scanning electron microscopes give about 1 nm of
resolution– Scanning probe microscopy (circa 1980)
• 0.01 nm to 0.1 nm of resolution
First Nanomanipulation
• In 1990s, D.M. Eigler and E.K. Schweizer at IBM– Positioned single atoms
with a scanning tunneling microscope
– First realization of nanomanipulation
– Used an ultra high vacuum (UHV) at about 4 °K
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/07/IBM_in_atoms.gif
Current Status of Small Robotics: Microrobotics
• Microrobotics– An active structure at the microscale (1 µm to 1 mm)
that has movement, sensing, signaling, information processing, or swarm behavior capabilities.
– Uses micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS)– Examples
• Intelligent Small-World Autonomous Robots for Micro-manipulation (I-SWARM)
• NanoHand• ETH Microrobot• ETH Swimming Microrobot
I-SWARM• Purpose: Investigate robot
swarming technology• 3 legs that are
piezoelectrically actuated• Weighs 65 mg, volume of
23 mm3 • Solar cells for power (2.5
mW)• Flexible PCB with:
– IR communication module– Capacitors– ASIC– Locomotion module
NanoHand• Microgripper designed to grab
and accurately place a signal carbon nanotube
• Electrothermal principles• Can pick up and place objects
from about 100 nm to about 20 nm
• Easy to pick up objects, difficult to drop them– Intermolecular forces are much
stronger than gravity at this scale.– “Glue” the CNT in place using
electron beam-induced deposition
ETH Microrobot• Magnetic approach to moving
microrobots• Can only move along an
engineered substrate, limiting it’s usability
• The microrobot aligns itself depending on the orientation of the magnetic field
• A changing magnetic field causes the gap to narrow, and the spring gets compressed
• This force creates a frictional difference and the microrobot moves
ETH Swimming Microrobot• Based off flagellum
– Some bacteria (E. Coli) use flagella for propulsion
• In the presence of a small rotating magnetic field (1 – 2 mT) they can “swim” through water– 20 um/sec
• About 25 to 60 um long– Body: indium, gallium, arsenic
and chromium– Head: chrome, nickel and gold
Current Status of Small Robotics: Nanorobotics
• In the research and theoretical phase– Global research effort increased from $432 million in 1997 to
$3 billion in 2003– Expected to exceed $1 trillion in next 10 to 15 years
• Two primary research foci– Using macroscale tools to manipulate nanoscale objects
• Virtual reality representations of nanoscale objects• Adaptations of CAD tools
– Developing and investigating nanoscale components• Carbon nanotubes (CNT)• Pharmaceutical drug delivery mechanisms• DNA computation
Building Nanoscale Components
• Top down approach– Uses techniques similar to current microchip fabrication
• Lithography and etching
– Currently make MEMS in this way, potentially NEMS• Bottom up approach: placing individual molecules
(manually, self-assemblers, or a growing mechanism)– Synthetic– Biological– Combination
Building Nanoscale Components: Bottom Up Methodology
• Synthetic– Carbon nanotubes – Pharmaceutical drug delivery– Biomimetic
• Imitating nature (flagella)
• Biological– Nubots (Nucleic acid robots)
• Uses DNA, RNA, and proteins to build motors, transmission elements, and sensors.
• Combination– Generally use bacteria or proteins (e.g. E. Coli) to provide transportation,
signaling, or actuation mechanisms for a synthetic nanorobot.– Nanorobot would change conditions in the environment to get the
protein/bacteria to do what it needs to do.
Challenges Building Nanoscale Devices
• Physical and chemical properties of molecules aren’t completely understood at the nanoscale– Electrostatic, interatomic, and intermolecular forces dominate,
gravity is negligible.• The surface area effect
– As 3D objects shrink, their volumes decrease by , but their surface areas only decrease by a
– This drastically increases the amount of effort it takes to overcome frictional effects.
• Motion– Due to the surface area effect, moving is difficult.– Microorganisms don’t swim, they use drag (friction) forces to move
Challenges Building Nanoscale Devices
• Power– Can’t use conventional methods– Mimic biology
• Use ATP or pH difference to cause motion
• Communication– Nanorobotics will need some form of communication if they are to swarm– Potential for acoustic communication
• Between 10 MHz and 300 MHz• 100 micron distance• 10 kbits/sec
• Interdisciplinary by nature– Require chemists, physicists, molecular biologists, doctors, engineers
(electrical, computer, software, biological, chemical) to all work together efficiently
Application Areas for Nanorobotics
• Medical– Targeted pharmaceutical drugs
• Nanorobots could target specific cells (e.g. cancer) and release their payload (chemotherapy drugs) and drastically reduce side effects while increasing effectiveness
– Preventive medicine• Swarms of nanorobots could actively patrol for pathogens
in the body• Dentistry
– Active cleaning– Decay resistant teeth
Application areas for nanorobotics
• Medical– Tissue Regeneration
• Researchers at Rice University have used nanoparticles to “wield” chicken meat together
– Sensory Regeneration
• Sensors– Femtogram scales– Create synthetic biological sensor systems– Surveillance
Ethical concerns
• Patents– At what point is the line drawn between invention and nature?
• Privacy– Massive amount of personal information could be gained from
something we can’t see• Big knowledge gap between manufacturers and users
– Potential health issue disclosure• Human enhancement
– What is the limit?– Who benefits?
• Autonomous nanorobots– Uncontrolled replication
Web Sources• http://
www.iris.ethz.ch/msrl/research/current/helical_swimmers/images/swimmer_robot.png
• http://www.emeraldinsight.com/content_images/fig/0490370401007.png
• http://www.emeraldinsight.com/content_images/fig/0490370401006.png
• http://www.emeraldinsight.com/content_images/fig/0490370401004.png
• http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/2009/iswarm.jpg• http://
cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/2009/iswarm4.jpg• http://phys.org/news170678733.html• http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_Plenty_of_Room_at_the_Bottom
• http://ida.lib.uidaho.edu:2065/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4264371
• http://prod.sandia.gov/techlib/access-control.cgi/2005/056808.pdf
• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/07/IBM_in_atoms.gif• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_force_microscopy• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanning_probe_microscopy• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanning_tunneling_microscope• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanning_electron_microscope• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_nanotechnology• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bionanotechnology
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_Small_World_Autonomous_Robots_for_Micro-manipulation
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microelectromechanical_systems
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_flying_robot
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbotics• http://www.inespe.org/schummer.pdf• http://www.capurro.de/nanoethics.html• http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/nanoro
bot6.htm• http://www.nanobot.info/• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_scale
_electronics• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biocomputers• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_computing• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_
Genes• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanomedicine• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanorobotics• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotechnology• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biorobot
Other Sources
Bogue, Robert. “Microrobots and Nanorobots: A Review of Recent Developments.” Okehampton, UK. 2010Kroeker, Krik L. “Medical Nanobots.” Sept 2009Patel, G. M. “Nanorobot: A Versatile Tool in Nanomedicine.” Jan 2006.Verma, Santosh and Chauhan, Rashi. “Nanorobotics in Denitsry- A Review.” 2013.Hogg, Tad and Freitas, Robert A. Jr. “Acoustic communication for medical nanobots.” 2012