Nanorobots are microscopic devices that can work at the atomic, molecular, and cellular levels to perform medical and industrial tasks. They can seek out cancerous cells and destroy them, leaving healthy cells intact. They can be controlled through programming and audible signaling and can be purged from the body when their task is completed. Nanorobots can be manufactured in nanofactories and can perform simple tasks, becoming more sophisticated as science progresses. They have potential medical and industrial applications, but potential dangers and abuses of nanotechnology remain under consideration.
Nanorobots are theoretical microscopic devices measured on the nanometer scale (1 nm equals one millionth of 1 millimeter). When fully realized from the hypothetical stage, they will work at the atomic, molecular and cellular levels to perform both medical and industrial tasks that have hitherto been the subject of science fiction.
In a few generations, someone diagnosed with cancer may be offered a new alternative to chemotherapy, the traditional radiation treatment that kills not only cancer cells but healthy human cells as well, causing hair loss, fatigue, nausea, depression, and a myriad other symptoms. A doctor who practices nanomedicine would give the patient an injection of a special type of nanorobot that would seek out cancerous cells and destroy them, dispelling the disease at its source, while leaving healthy cells intact. The extent of discomfort to the patient would essentially be a sting in the arm. A person undergoing nanorobotic treatment might expect to have no awareness of the molecular devices working within them, other than a rapid improvement in their health.
Nanomedicine nanorobots are so small that they can easily pass through the human body. Scientists report that the exterior of a nanorobot will likely consist of carbon atoms in a diamond-like structure due to its inert properties and strength. The super smooth surfaces will reduce the likelihood of activating the body’s immune system, allowing the nanorobots to carry out their tasks unhindered. Glucose or the body’s natural sugars and oxygen could be a source of propulsion, and the nanorobot will have other biochemical or molecular parts depending on its task.
According to current theories, nanorobots will possess at least rudimentary two-way communication; will respond to beeps; and will be able to receive energy or even reprogramming instructions from an external source via sound waves. A network of special stationary nanorobots could be strategically placed throughout the body, recording each active nanorobot as it passes, then reporting back those results, allowing an interface to keep track of all the devices in the body. A doctor could not only monitor a patient’s progress, but change the instructions of the nanorobots in vivo to move to another stage of healing. When the task is completed, the nanobots will be purged from the body.
Molecular nanotechnology (MNT), the umbrella science of nanomedicine, involves nanorobots manufactured in nanofactories no bigger than the average desktop printer. The nanofactories would use nanoscale tools capable of building nanorobots to exacting specifications. The design, shape, size and type of atoms, molecules and included computer components would be specific to the task. The raw material to make nanorobots would be nearly free and the process virtually pollution-free, making nanorobots an extremely cost-effective and highly attractive technology.
The first generation of nanorobots will likely perform very simple tasks, becoming more sophisticated as science progresses. They will be controlled not only through limited design capabilities, but also through programming and the aforementioned audible signaling, which can be used, in particular, to shut down nanorobots.
Robert A. Freitas Jr., author of Nanomedicine, gives us an example of a type of medical nanorobot he designed that would act like a red blood cell. It’s made up of carbon atoms arranged in a diamond pattern to create what’s basically a tiny spherical pressurized tank, with “molecular sorting rotors” covering just over a third of the surface. To make a rough analogy, these molecules would act like the blades of a riverboat that grab molecules of oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2), which would then pass into the internal structure of the nanorobot.
The entire nanorobot, which Freitas has dubbed breathocyte, is made up of 18 billion atoms and can contain up to 9 billion molecules of O2 and CO2, or just over 235 times the capacity of a human red blood cell. This increased capacity is made possible because the diamond structure supports higher pressures than a human cell. Sensors on the nanorobot would activate molecular rotors to either release gases or collect them, depending on the needs of the surrounding tissues. A hefty dose of these nanorobots injected into a patient in solution, Freitas explains, would allow someone to sit comfortably underwater near a backyard swimming pool drain for nearly four hours, or run at full speed for 15 minutes before breathing in.
While the potential medical and even military applications seem obvious for this simple type of nanorobot, the implications for everyday life are also intriguing. Imagine diving with no tank or regulator, but a swarm of respiration cells in your bloodstream; or the 2030 Olympics when, perhaps, super-athletes will not be scanned for drugs, but for nanorobotic enhancement.
While nanorobots applied to medicine hold much promise from disease eradication to reversing the aging process (wrinkles, bone loss, and age-related conditions are all treatable at the cellular level), nanorobots are also candidates for industrial applications . In large swarms they could clean the air of carbon dioxide, fix the hole in the ozone layer, clean the water of pollutants and restore our ecosystems.
The first theories in The Engines Of Creation (1986), by the “father of nanotechnology”, Eric Drexler, imagined nanorobots as self-replicating. This idea is now obsolete, but the author offered a worst-case scenario as a cautionary note at the time. Microscopic nanobugs on the run exponentially disassemble matter at the cellular level to make multiple copies of themselves, a situation that could rapidly wipe out all life on Earth into gray pulp. This unlikely but theoretically feasible ecophage triggered a backlash and funding freeze. The idea of self-replicating nanobugs quickly took root in many popular science fiction themes including Star Trek’s nano-alien, the Borg.
Over the years the MNT theory has continued to evolve by eliminating self-replicating nanorobots. This is reflected in Drexler’s later work, Nanosystems (1992). The need for more control over the process and location of nanomachines has led to a more mechanical approach, leaving little chance for out-of-control biological processes to occur.
Nanorobots are poised to bring about the next revolution in technology and medicine, replacing the cumbersome and toxic industrial age and opening up humanity to incredible possibilities. But while gray goo is no longer a central concern, other potential dangers and abuses of nanotechnology remain under serious consideration by scientists and watchdog groups alike.
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