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Nanobots, microscopic robots, are an active area of research with endless theoretical uses, including medical applications. While the term nanobot is generally used by the public, the scientific community uses the term nanorobot. The gray sticky situation, a doomsday scenario, is a concern, but failsafes can be built into systems to prevent it. The Nanofactory Collaboration project is working to develop nanobots, and as the technology gets closer to becoming a reality, more private industry and government groups are investing in research.
Nanobots are incredibly small, microscopic-scale robots. The name comes from a combination of nanometer, scale in which devices are built and robots. Nanobots have been staples of science fiction for some time and have experienced periods of relative popularity among the futurist communities. While they were created in a biological context, true mechanical nanobots have not yet been created, but they remain an active area of research and hold great promise for a number of fields. The term nanobot can also be used occasionally to describe a macro-robot capable of interacting at the nanoscale, using incredibly small tools.
Generally, when nanobots are seriously discussed in a scientific context, the term nanorobot is used instead, as nanobots have become more closely associated with science fiction contexts. However, nanobot is the term generally used by the public. Many proponents have had to battle the public perception that if the technology were ever developed it could pose a threat to humanity, and most contemporary theories of nanorobotics try to take these dangers into consideration.
The most famous doomsday scenario given when discussing nanobots is the so-called gray sticky situation. This is a theoretical situation where a swarm of nanobots go out of control or are afflicted with a computer virus and start deconstructing all matter, resulting in everything on the planet eventually being turned into a shapeless goo. Most current proponents of nanorobotics point out that failsafes can be built into systems to prevent this from happening, and that in fact it relies on a number of things, such as self-replication, that shouldn’t necessarily be included in a nanorobotic uncoil.
The theoretical uses of nanobots are virtually endless, as their size would allow them to essentially reconstruct matter. Along these lines, suitably programmed nanobots would be able to take raw materials and build them into anything from proteins to foods to tiny microprocessors. If set up to do so, they could in theory even build more nanobots, through the process of self-replication, so that a small group of nanobots could quickly grow into a huge swarm capable of large-scale projects.
Medical applications of nanobots are particularly promising, and most researchers focus on these as likely early uses of the technology. Because nanobots interact on the same scale as many invaders in the body, they could conceivably be used as specially programmed warriors, helping fight off cancer cells or viruses. They could also be used for much more detailed scans of people, to help with early diagnosis, or just to make sure the body is functioning at an optimal level.
Since 2000, the Nanofactory Collaboration project has been working to develop a research agenda that fosters the development of nanobots. While the technology is still beyond the level of what is currently possible with contemporary engineering, nanobots are getting closer and closer to becoming a reality every year. As this time approaches, more private industry and government groups are pouring more money into researching and defining the theoretical uses and limits of nanorobotics.
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