Bio-Nanorobotics: State of the Art and Future Challenges

Abstract

Nanotechnology can best be defined as a description of activities at the level of atoms and molecules that have applications in the real world. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter, that is, about 1/80,000 of the diameter of a human hair, or 10 times the diameter of a hydrogen atom. The size-related challenge is the ability to measure, manipulate, and assemble matter with features on the scale of 1 to 100 nm. In order to achieve cost-effectiveness in nanotechnology it will be necessary to automate molecular manufacturing. The engineering of molecular products needs to be carried out by robotic devices, which have been termed as nanorobots. A nanorobot is essentially a controllable machine at the nanometer or molecular scale that is composed of nanoscale components. The field of nanorobotics studies the design, manufacturing, programming, and control of the nanoscale robots.