Companies That Make Nanorobots

Breakthroughs in Nanotechnology Could Lead To A Real Life Star Trek Replicator

A Real Life Star Trek Replicator May be Decades Away. Anyone familiar with the incredibly successful and culture creating Star Trek franchise knows exactly what I’m talking about when I refer to the “replicator.” The replicator was an on-board machine capable of creating and recycling objects almost magically by synthesizing just about anything seemingly out of thin air.

Anyone familiar with the incredibly successful and culture creating Star Trek franchise knows exactly what I’m talking about when I refer to the “replicator.” The replicator was an on-board machine capable of creating and recycling objects almost magically by synthesizing just about anything seemingly out of thin air. Replicators were originally used primarily to create meals on demand, but as the series evolved over the years so did the machine’s various applications, synthesizing everything from spare parts to uniforms. While the entire concept almost exudes the air of being way too cool to be true, it turns out that real life replicator technology may only be a couple of decades away. Cutting edge research and certain breakthroughs in the field of nanotechnology has led some researchers to declare that this generation will witness the greatest technological breakthrough in human history, defined by the development of molecular manufacturing and personal nanofactories. They believe that within twenty years, humans will be able to synthesize objects as complex as a desktop computer from the ground up on a molecular level using self-contained, table-top fabricators. Using nanomachines at the molecular scale, the envisioned fabricators would form small building blocks from molecular raw materials which would be bonded atom by atom using billions of nano-robots capable of working with atomic precision. Theoretically, the end result would be products vastly more durable and powerful than today’s versions. Computers could be a billion times smaller using a million times less power and materials could be a hundred times stronger than steel. Production costs would dramatically go down and production times for complex items or structures would speed up to a matter of hours or minutes. While the technology is still in its primordial stage, the fact that leading nanotech companies have already set the ball in motion, has sparked a debate centered on the various impacts both, positive and negative, such advanced technology could pose to society.

HOLY SHUT.

Nanotechnology may hold the key to making space flight more practical. Advancements in nanomaterials make lightweight solar sails and a cable for the space elevator possible. By significantly reducing the amount of rocket fuel required, these advances could lower the cost of reaching orbit and traveling in space. In addition, new materials combined with nanosensors and nanorobots could improve the performance of spaceships, spacesuits, and the equipment used to explore planets and moons, making nanotechnology an important part of the ‘final frontier.’ ncluding layers of bio-nano robots in spacesuits. The outer layer of bio-nano robots would respond to damages to the spacesuit, for example to seal up punctures. An inner layer of bio-nano robots could respond if the astronaut was in trouble, for example by providing drugs in a medical emergency. For more about this see page 30 of this report on Bio-Nano-Machines for Space Applications. hrusters for spacecraft that use MEMS devices to accelerate nanoparticles. This should reduce the weight and complexity of thruster systems used for interplanetary missions. One cost-saving feature of these type of thrusters is their ability to draw on more or less of the MEMS devices depending upon the size and thrust requirement of the spacecraft, rather than designing and building different engines for different size spacecraft. Nanotechnology may hold the key to making spaceflight more practical. Advancements in materials to make lightweight solar sails and the cable for the space elevator could significantly cut the cost of reaching orbit and traveling in space, as well as dramatically reducing the amount of rocket fuel used. Also new materials, along with nanosensors and nanorobots could improve the performance of spaceships, spacesuits and equipment used to explore planets and moons, making a big difference on the ‘final frontier.’ The space elevator is a device that will dramatically reduce the cost of sending cargo into orbit. Like any elevator the space elevator will have a cable, however it will need to be stronger than any existing cable. Roughly 90,000 kilometers long, the space elevator cable will probably be made from carbon nanotubes. It will be anchored at the top to an asteroid (called the counterweight) in orbit around the earth, and at the bottom by an anchor station, perhaps floating in the ocean similar to a drilling rig. Regardless of how fuel efficient propulsion systems are, it’s still important to make spacecraft lightweight. Researchers are investigating nanotube composites from which they can manufacture strong and lightweight skin and structural members for spacecraft. However this is just the start of how nanotechnology could change the way that spaceships are made. NASA has included a concept called self healing spaceships in their 2030 nanotechnology roadmap. Just as your skin heals a small puncture wound NASA is looking to nanotechnology to provide a way for the skin and structural components of a spaceship to seal up damage from meteors that strike the spaceship. NASA is also planning to use nanosensors to improve the monitoring of spaceship systems such as life support. The ability of nanosensors to quickly report changed levels of trace chemicals in air could be very useful to keeping life support systems working correctly in a spaceship’s closed system. A longer term proposal is to place nanosensors throughout the skin of a spacecraft to act like nerve endings in your skin. When a particular region of the spacecraft skin becomes is stressed or damaged, the main computer is alerted to take action and alter the spaceship’s course, just as you would jerk your hand away from a hot stove. Occasionally astronauts have to leave their spaceships, so researchers at Northeastern University and Rutgers University propose that we protect the astronauts by including layers of bio-nano robots in their spacesuits. The outer layer of bio-nano robots would respond to damages to the spacesuit, for example to seal up punctures. An inner layer of bio-nano robots could respond if the astronaut was in trouble, for example by providing drugs in a medical emergency. The term bio-nano robots comes from the use of biological molecules to provide portions of the robots mechanism. For example, proteins have mechanisms to travel within a body that enable it them to work as a motor for a nano robot. These proteins could be connected to carbon nanotubes that link parts of the nano robot together. When you think about it, this idea is just like harnessing a horse to a cart as the nano robots hitch a ride on the proteins. There’s a lot of development work to be done, but it will be interesting to see how these self-healing suits turn out.

YEARBOOK OF NANOTECHNOLOGY IN SOCIETY, THE, PRESENTING FUTURES

... articles reporting the successes of companies that manufacture new and improved ... Nanorobots and submarines are now no longer described as being ...

Nanomedicine and Nanorobotics

... we expect that such software tools will be made freely available. ... patronizing companies that do not systematically check their DNA synthesis orders. ...

The Future of Aging, Pathways to Human Life Extension

Medical nanorobots will certainly be among the first consumer products to be made by nanofactories because: (1) even relatively small (milligram/gram) ...

Financing Technology Innovation

Finally, the cost of the nanorobots themselves are quite small. ... We will seek funding from two companies who not only have histories of investing in ...

Drum, a magazine of Africa for Africa

In years to come the very fibres clothing is made of may be genetically modified to react to ultrasound and shed dirt onto the floor, where nanorobots can ...