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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, 1988MSCS '91Software and dyslexia careers1996-2002, coauthored "Vasculoid" with Robert

Freitas2002, co-founded Center for Responsible

Nanotechnology

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ICsMolecular Manufacturing

OpticsImaging

Macromolecules

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Nanotechnology

Medicine

Communications

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 sensorsEnergy transducersMolecular containersCoupled devices

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"Sorting Rotor"

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Future: Molecular Manufacturing

Engineered molecular machinesBottom-up constructionSmall productsLarge quantitiesHigh 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

BiocompatibilityPower supplySensingHeat dissipationCommunication

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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 micron^3Advanced functionality•Sensing•Molecular intervention•Functional intervention

10 pW per robot (cell ~30 pW)10^11 robots per body•50-100 micron separation

Far more data than bandwidth

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Medicine Is Hard

Systems of systemsEnvironment and homeostasisPathogensPervasive degenerationDisease identification

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Communication Is Key

Learn medical statusControl robot behaviorProvide robot infrastructure•Location awareness•Coordination

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Sensory Capabilities

Molecule detection: 10^7 types per cubic-micron detector

Displacement, motion, forcePressure, soundTemperatureElectric, magneticCell structure

See Nanomedicine Ch. 4http://www.nanomedicine.com/NMI.htm

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Size / Speed / Sensitivity

Temperature•57 nm^3, 1 nsec, 31 mK•1E9 nm^3, 100 usec, 1 uK

Single-proton massometer•1E5 nm^3•10 usec cycle time?

10 pm, 10 pN

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Communication Methods To Nanorobots

ChemicalAcousticElectromagneticPhysical network/cablesPhysiological monitoring

See Nanomedicine Ch. 7http://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 stimulationPhysical 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•10^6 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@crnano.orghttp://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 Moore’s 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?