Nanorobotics Motivation, Potential and Challenges Kyle Swenson

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

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 mm 3 Solar cells for power (2.5 mW) Flexible PCB with: – IR communication module – Capacitors – ASIC – Locomotion module

I-SWARM: Diagram 1)Solar panel 2)IR communications module 3)ASIC 4)Capacitors 5)Piezoelectric 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

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

Questions?

Web Sources mers/images/swimmer_robot.png mers/images/swimmer_robot.png png png png png png png m.jpg m.jpg m4.jpg m4.jpg _the_Bottom _the_Bottom ber= ber= control.cgi/2005/ pdf control.cgi/2005/ pdf ms.gif ms.gif omous_Robots_for_Micro-manipulation omous_Robots_for_Micro-manipulation s s

Other Sources Bogue, Robert. “Microrobots and Nanorobots: A Review of Recent Developments.” Okehampton, UK Kroeker, Krik L. “Medical Nanobots.” Sept 2009 Patel, G. M. “Nanorobot: A Versatile Tool in Nanomedicine.” Jan Verma, Santosh and Chauhan, Rashi. “Nanorobotics in Denitsry- A Review.” Hogg, Tad and Freitas, Robert A. Jr. “Acoustic communication for medical nanobots.” 2012