Nanorobots

Nanorobots

Amandeep Kumar, Ramya CB, Surashree Roy

8th Semester, Electronics and Communication, SJB Institute of Technology,

Bangalore – 560060

Abstract Nanorobotics is the technology of creating machines or robots at or close to the microscopic scale of a nanometer (10-9 meters). More specifically, nanorobotics refers to the still largely hypothetical Nanotechnology engineering discipline of designing and building nanorobots, devices ranging in size from 0.1-10 micrometers and constructed of nano-scale or molecular components. As no artificial non-biological nano-robots have yet been created, they remain a hypothetical concept.

1. INTRODUCTION

   The names nanobots, nanoids, nanites or nanomites have also been used to describe these hypothetical devices. Nanorobots are nano-devices that will be used for the purpose of maintaining and protecting the human body against pathogens. Nanorobots might also produce copies of themselves to replace worn-out units, a process called self-replication. A major advantage of nano-robots is thought to be their durability. In theory, they can remain operational for years, decades, or centuries. Nano-scale systems can also operate much faster than their larger counterparts because displacements are smaller; this allows mechanical and electrical events to occur in less time at a given speed.

2. NANOROBOTICS

   Nanorobotics plays vital role in the development of efficient robots. It uses nano components and there objects to build the structure of robots. Its nano nature allows scientists and engineers to engineer the mimic of human beings. Most complex parts of robots can be constructed well with the help of nanorobotics. The devices which are created with the help of nanorobotics is known as hypothetical devices, names such as nanobots, nanoids, nanites or nano-mites. Nanorobotics permits robots for precisions and interactions of different function with nano scale objects, all the robots with nano- scaling are operated at nano-scale resolution. Each part and component of a robot from infra-structure chip to external body is configured at atomic scale. Although nanorobotics makes structure of the robot complex but it facilitates the device with extra ordinary intelligence and efficiency. Instruments used in nano robots. Nanorobotics has incredible

   applications in the field of science and technology. With the assistance of this diverse technology, world is now able to see and utilize the instruments which were never seen before. Some of the most famous nanorobotics instruments and applications are as under.

   • Atomic force microscope

   • Nano macro or micro-scale robots

   • Nano-machines

   • Toxicity detectors

   • Single molecule car

   • Nubots

     Atomic force microscope Atomic force microscope is an instrument which could be considered as nanorobotics instrument. It is configured and manipulated at nano-scale and also used to view the particle of an element or material at the smallest level. In the field of medical sciences atomic scope microscope is used to diagnose the cancer and other fatal bacteria. Nano macro or micro-scale robots are also the invention of nanorobotics. These robots can move with the nano-scale precision and can detect and scan the objects and obstacles in the way at completely without leaving a single particle. Nanotechnology delivered excellent applications such as microscopic robots that automatically gather the other devices or travel inside the human body to transfer drugs or do microsurgery. These robots are so fast that they can shake the most viscous fluids just in matter of seconds.

3. NANO-MACHINES

   Nano-machines are widely in research these days. Researchers have developed some of the testifying samples; one of the examples of these molecular machines is the sensor having capability of counting particular molecule in the chemical compounds. There is no implementary application present in the medical field but these machines if properly developed for the medical applications, they could greatly help the doctors to destroy the cancer cells.

4. TOXITY DETECTORS

   Another useful application is the detection of toxic chemicals and the measurement of concentrated substances in the environment these detectors will be very useful and beneficial for the chemists in order to manage and reduce the toxicity of chemicals Single molecule car. Recently, another demonstration of nanorobotics is the single molecule car which has nano infra-structure. These cars are developed by chemical process and have buck ball wheels. It is configured by controlling the temperature in the air and also by positioning the scanning tunnel microscope.

5. NUBOTS

   Scientific field has given new type of robots to the world which are known as nubots. Nubot is the abbreviation of

   Nucleic Acid Robots. These devices are operated at nano- scale and are highly beneficial for demonstrating the DNA test and blood cell detection. Capabilities of Nanobots – Since this tiny size gives them the ability to interact at the bacteria and virus level, nanobots main function will probably be medical. They have the potential to revolutionize the medical community in almost every way. Nanorobots are so tiny that they could be easily injected into the bloodstream, where they would then float through the circulatory system in order to locate and fix problem areas of the body. Nanobots Can Repair Damaged Tissue. The burgeoning field of nanotechnology has many useful and direct applications for the medical industry, and nano-robots are no exception to this rule. The medical science wants to create nanobots that can repair damaged tissue without pain and trauma. Many of the medical procedures employ today are very traumatic to the human body and do not work in harmony with our natural systems. Chemotherapy wreaks havoc on humans and nearly kills them in the quest to kill off their malignant cancer cells. Invasive surgical procedures are also quite common today, with associated traumas that cause many patients to die on the operating table rather than survive and heal. Nanorobots are so small that they actually interact on the same level as bacteria and viruses do and so they are capable of building with the very particles of our bodies- atoms and molecules.

6. NANOBOTS ARE MADE OUT OF ?

   Nanotechnology as a whole is fairly simple to understand, but developing this universal technology into a nano-robot has been slightly more complicated. Many of the nano-bot prototypes function quite well in certain respects but are mostly or partly biological in nature, whereas the ultimate goal and quintessential definition of a nano-robot is to have the microscopic entity made entirely out of electromechanical components. In fact, researchers anticipate that due to the complicated nature of their construction, nanobots will only fully emerge after several generations of partly biological nano-bot forerunners have been constructed in order to make them. Nanorobots are essentially an adapted machine version of bacteria. They are designed to function on the same scale as both bacteria and common viruses in order to interact with and repel them from the human system. Biological nanobots have technically been created, as have large or conventionally-sized robots with the ability to work on the nano-scale. But the

   traditional idea of nano-robots involves them being all or mostly mechanical, and these types of nanobots are the next step in nanotechnology. There are many scientists and research groups currntly hard at work on shrinking and adapting the conventional robot and theyve gotten them pretty small, but not quite down to the nano-scale. The main problem seems to be the robotic power source for such a tiny machine. Traditionally, most robots have a solar cell or some kind of battery pack, but obviously these are many times too large for nano-bot. Researchers consider it highly likely that when equipped with a thin film of radioactive material, nanobots will be able to fuel themselves on particles released by decaying atoms. This fuel technology is easily scaled down to nano-size. It also proves immensely efficient because with such a self-driven system in place, nanobots would be able to function indefinitely and never require a replacement fuel cell as they would with batteries or solar power. Silicon has always been the first choice for delicate electronics and has the right qualities to make a successful scaled-down robot, even one as tiny as a few hundred nanometers. It is strong enough to last and conduct electricity on a regular basis, but also flexible enough to be manipulated in various ways; this makes it the universal one-size-fits-all electronic material. However, constructing nanobots out of silicon would subject them to the same issues that other silicon electronics face, one of which is that they are not biodegradable. If nanobots were to be produced on a large scale their enduring materials would not be as dangerous as all the microchips and computer electronics currently sitting in our landfills, but they would still be another small drain on our natural resources. Silicon can be recycled into low-grade products like solar cells, but the process is long, complicated and usually costly. One of the issues associated with the final creation of the nano-bot is autonomy. A suggested alternative to silicon components is installing a system whereby small clusters of molecules react to forces in their environment, convert these reactions into power, and use the resulting energy in order to move themselves forward. Hard oxides and metals that are typically used for electronics will be essential, but many of them (including silicon) have to be effectively reduced to the nano-scale before any serious work can go forward. Prototypes have been built using biological components, but the ultimate goal is to achieve a purely electromechanical model.

7. FUTURE EFFECTS OF NANOTECH ON HEALTH CARE

   • Creation of cell-repair-machines

   • Early-disease-detection

   • Treating cancer cells without damaging the cells

   • Brain Aneurysm

   • Treating arteriosclerosis

   • Breaking up blood clots and helping the body clot

   • Fighting cancer

8. CREATION OF CELL-REPAIR-MACHINES

   Present-day nano-scale manufacturing techniques leading to bacteria sized mechanizations that could tell one cell from another by touch, repair DNA within a cell, and even are

   directed by computers to complete multiple missions in the same body. The possibility of actual nano-scale robots would completely change medicine. Made from carbon for its strength, such robots would have to be no larger than 3 nanometers at their largest dimension, so they can fit through capillaries and other passage ways of the human body critical for their transportation and use. Such robots could be injected into the body, controlled by nano-computers, and monitored by MRI. Early-disease-detection Nano devices could soon test for ailments on a cellular level via sensor testing chips holding thousands of nanowires. These little devices would be able to detect proteins and other biomarkers left by cancer cells. As a result, they could help detect such diseases in their early stage. All from a few drops of the blood.

9. TREATING CANCER WITHOUT DAMAGING CELLS

   Treating cancer without damaging cells – Treating cancer these days often means subjecting ones entire body to chemotherapy and the toxic wake it leaves behind. At between

   10 and 100 nano-meters, specialized nanoparticles could

   cook cancer cells with the help of radio waves or lasers, or do away with tumors by dropping folic acid lures directly into cancer cells, leaving adjacent healthy cells undamaged.

10. NANOROBOT FOR BRAIN ANEURYSM

    The idea of nano-robots floating throughout our arteries to fight diseases and deliver drugs is migrating from science fiction to medical fact, at least in virtual 3D simulations. Nanorobotics pioneer Adriano Cavalcanti and his colleagues report progress with their Nano-robot Control Design (NCD) software which helps them simulate the behavior of future nano-robots. The team released a new paper that proposes a model for how a nano-robot should help with the early detection of cerebral aneurysm.

    First the research team, which includes the Center for Automation in Nano-biotech (CAN) along with Bijan

    Shirinzadeh from Monash University, and Toshio Fukuda and Seiichi Ikeda from Nagoya University, had to select an approach to developing nano-robots for common use in medicine. Instead, the team chose a nano-integrated circuit version that uses hybrid materials, photonics, and wireless communication for manufacturing and control. Then they identified and applied the following three key required pieces to advance the development and implementation of medical nanorobotics, according to the paper published by The International Journal of Robotics Research.

11. CREATING NANO-ROBOTS

    1. Equipment prototyping:

       Computational nanotechnology provides a key tool for the fast and effective development of nano-robots, helping in the investigation to address major aspects on medical instrumentation and device prototyping.

    2. The manufacturing technology:

       For manufacturing purposes, the nano-robot should be integrated as a biochip device.

    3. Inside-body transduction:

    Cell morphology, microbiology, and proteomics are used as parameters for nano-robot morphology and inside-body interaction. Changes on chemical gradients and telemetric instrumentation are used for medical prognosis, with the nano- robots activation based on proteomic overexpression.

12. TREATING ARTERIOSCLEROSIS

    Arteriosclerosis refers to a condition where plaque builds along the walls of arteries. Nanorobots could conceivably treat the condition by cutting away the plaque, which would then enter the bloodstream. Nanorobots may treat conditions like arteriosclerosis by physically chipping away the plaque along artery walls. Breaking up blood clots and Helping the body clot: Blood clots can cause complications ranging from muscle death to a stroke. Nanorobots could travel to a clot and break it up. This application is one of the most dangerous uses for nano-robots the robot must be able to remove the blockage without losing small pieces in the bloodstream, which could then travel elsewhere in the body and cause more problems. The robot must also be small enough so that it do One

    particular kind of nano-robot is the clottocyte, or artificial platelet. The clottocyte carries a small mesh net that dissolves into a sticky membrane upon contact with blood plasma. According to Robert A. Freitas, Jr., the man who designed the clottocyte, clotting could be up to 1,000 times faster than the bodys natural clotting mechanism [source: FreitaS].. Doctors could use clottocytes to treat haemophiliacs or patients with serious open wounds doesnt block the flow of blood itself

13. FIGHTING CANCER

    Doctors hope to use nano-robots to treat cancer patients. The robots could either attack tumors directly using lasers, microwaves or ultrasonic signals or they could be part of a chemotherapy treatment, levering medication directly to the cancer site. Doctors believe that by delivering small but precise doses of medication to the patient, side effects will be minimized without a loss in the medications effectiveness.

14. ADVANTAGES OF NANTECHNOLOGY

    • Nanotechnology can actually revolutionize a lot of electronic products, procedures, and applications. The areas that benefit from the continued development of nanotechnology when it comes to electronic products include nano transistors, nano diodes, OLED, plasma displays, quantum computers, and many more.

    • Nanotechnology can also benefit the energy sector. The development of more effective energy-producing, energy- absorbing, and energy storage products in smaller and more efficient devices is possible with this technology. Such items like batteries, fuel cells, and solar cells can be built smaller but can be made to be more effective with this technology.

    • Another industry that can benefit from nanotechnology is the manufacturing sector that will need materials like nanotubes, aerogels, nano particles, and other similar items to produce their products with. These materials are often stronger, more durable, and lighter than those that are not produced with the help of nanotechnology.

    • In the medical world, nanotechnology is also seen as a boon since these can help with creating what is called smart drugs. These help cure people faster and without the side effects that other traditional drugs have. You will also find that the research of nanotechnology in medicine is now focusing on areas like tissue regeneration, bone repair, immunity and even

      cures for such ailments like cancer, diabetes, and other life threatening diseases.

15. DISADVANYAGES OF NANOTECHNOLOGY

    • Included in the list of disadvantages of this science and its development is the possible loss of jobs in the traditional farming and manufacturing industry.

    • The development of nanotechnology can also bring about the crash of certain markets due to the lowering of the value of oil and diamonds due to the possibility of developing alternative sources of energy that are more efficient and wont require the use of fossil fuels.

    • Atomic weapons can now be more accessible and made to be more powerful and more destructive. These can also become more accessible with nanotechnology.

    • Since these particles are very small, problems can actually arise from the inhalation of these minute particles, much like the problems a person gets from inhaling minute asbestos particles.

    • Presently, nanotechnology is very expensive and developing it can cost you a lot of money. It is also pretty difficult to manufacture, which is probably why products made with nanotechnology are more expensive.

16. APPLICATIONS USING NANOROBOTS Some possible applications using nano-robots are as follows:

    • To cure skin diseases, a cream containing nano-robots may be used. It could remove the right amount of dead skin, remove excess oils, add missing oils, apply the right amounts of natural moisturizing compounds, and even achieve the elusive goal of deep pore cleaning by actually reaching down into pores and cleaning them out. The cream could be a smart material with smooth-on, peel-off convenience.

    • A mouthwash full of smart nano-machines could identify and destroy pathogenic bacteria while allowing the harmless flora of the mouth to flourish in a healthy ecosystem. Further, the devices would identify particles of food, plaque, or tartar, and lift them from teeth to be rinsed away. Being suspended in liquid and able to swim about, devices would be able to reach surfaces beyond reach of toothbrush bristles or the fibers of floss. As short-lifetime medical nano-devices, they could be built to last only a few minutes in the body before falling apart into materials of the sort found in foods (such as fiber).

    • Medical nano-devices could augment the immune system by finding and disabling unwanted bacteria and viruses. When an invader is identified, it can be punctured, letting its contents spill out and ending its effectiveness. If the contents were known to be hazardous by themselves, then the immune machine could hold on to it long enough to dismantle it more completely.

17. CONCLUSION

Nanorobots are nano-devices that will be used for the purpose of maintaining and protecting the human body against pathogens. Noteworthy, this development was the result of a highly collaborative effort and a synthesis of several advanced technologies: The current study establishes proteomics, nano-

bioelectronics, and electromagnetics as the basis to advance medical nanorobotics. The nano-machine platform design was based on clinical data, proteomic signals, cell morphology, and numerical analysis. For the proposed model, the nano-robots were able to recognize chemical gradient changes in the bloodstream, retrieving information about the position inside the vessel as intracranial aneurysm detection. An important and interesting aspect in the current development is the fact that this platform, presented in terms of device prototyping and system architecture integration, can also be useful for a broad range of applications in medicine.

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