Robots Inside

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Robots Inside Designing and Controlling Medical
Nanorobots
Chris Phoenix Director of Research (on
sabbatical), Center for Responsible
Nanotechnology
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My History

• Drexler's nanotech class, Stanford, 1988
• MSCS '91
• Software and dyslexia careers
• 1996-2002, coauthored "Vasculoid" with Robert
  Freitas
• 2002, co-founded Center for Responsible
  Nanotechnology

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NanoMedicoTelecommunications
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What is a robot?

• A machine with programmable behavior

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Today's New Molecular Technologies

• Single-molecule sensors
• Energy transducers
• Molecular containers
• Coupled devices

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"Sorting Rotor"
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Future Molecular Manufacturing

• Engineered molecular machines
• Bottom-up construction
• Small products
• Large quantities
• High performance
• Result?
• Revolution probably disruption
• Bigger choices.

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Nanofactory images
lizardfire.com/ html_nano/ nano.html
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Medical problems to solve

• Biocompatibility
• Power supply
• Sensing
• Heat dissipation
• Communication

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In-Body Robots

• Micro-devices
• Hormone pumps
• Pacemakers
• Surgical robots
• Catheters
• Molecular constructions
• Anti-cancer packages
• Liposomes

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Future Robots

• 1-10 micron3
• Advanced functionality
• Sensing
• Molecular intervention
• Functional intervention
• 10 pW per robot (cell 30 pW)?
• 1011 robots per body
• 50-100 micron separation
• Far more data than bandwidth

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Medicine Is Hard

• Systems of systems
• Environment and homeostasis
• Pathogens
• Pervasive degeneration
• Disease identification

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Communication Is Key

• Learn medical status
• Control robot behavior
• Provide robot infrastructure
• Location awareness
• Coordination

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Sensory Capabilities

• Molecule detection 107 types per cubic-micron
  detector
• Displacement, motion, force
• Pressure, sound
• Temperature
• Electric, magnetic
• Cell structure
• See Nanomedicine Ch. 4
• http//www.nanomedicine.com/NMI.htm

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Size / Speed / Sensitivity

• Temperature
• 57 nm3, 1 nsec, 31 mK
• 1E9 nm3, 100 usec, 1 uK
• Single-proton massometer
• 1E5 nm3
• 10 usec cycle time?
• 10 pm, 10 pN

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Communication Methods To Nanorobots

• Chemical
• Acoustic
• Electromagnetic
• Physical network/cables
• Physiological monitoring
• See Nanomedicine Ch. 7
• http//www.nanomedicine.com/NMI.htm

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Communication Methods From Nanorobots

• Chemical (short-range, or externally processed)?
• Acoustic (short-range)?
• Electromagnetic (collective only)?
• Physiological stimulation
• Physical network/cables

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Summary

• Acoustic
• 100-micron distance
• 100 MHz frequency 60,000 pW
• A few pW a few kb/second
• Radio
• 106 bits/sec
• Incoming only

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Bigger Questions

• Therapy vs. Enhancement
• e.g. Respirocytes for SCUBA diving
• Patient-medibot interaction
• Especially neural stimulation
• Destructive uses of medical technology

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Resources

• Me cphoenix_at_crnano.org
• http//nanomedicine.com/NMI.htm
• http//CRNano.org

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Roadmaps and Bootstrapping

• Foresight/Battelle/Drexler mainly biopolymer
• Freitas/Merkle direct to diamondoid
• Increasingly small manufacturing
• Molecular building blocks
• Biopolymer/Silica

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How soon?

• Cost probably drops with Moores Law
• Exponentially and rapidly
• Tech trends without forcing three decades?
• till it would be achieved with minimal effort
• Thus, if 1B now 1M in one decade???
• Who will want it, and when will they realize?
• How fast can a "Nanhattan project" go?