Nano Robotics – A Review

2013 AICTE SPONSORED National Conference on Modern Trends in Engineering Solutions (NCMTES‐2013) 

Nano Robotics – A Review Aruntapan Dash Department Of Mechanical Engineering Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology,Sarang Dhenkanal, Odisha,India [email protected]

Preetam Chandan Mohapatra School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering Washington State University, Pullman, WA,USA [email protected]

Abstract-Nanorobotics being a promising research and development era has gained acute attention and response from Govt. as well as industries. For long term future application; the characterization and manufacturing techniques of Nano robots is yet to be much more developed. Apart from biomedical applications its potential use in defense, automotive &aerospace, automation of production industry,molecular chemistry, material science research and electronics-communication engineering could be estimated to visualize its tremendous accuracy, precession, smaller size, lesser weight, accessibility and efficiency. The Smaller the size the larger are the specific surface area and energy efficiency. This is the prime concept behind all micro or nanotechnology devices. Even though the nanobots have not yet been deployed in any commercial application with currently available science and technology; the ongoing intensity of research & development work tends to a brighter future where we expect number of miracles with such tiny nanomachines. In this context a productive discussion has been carried out concerned with the future application as well as past-present research scenario of nanorobotics. A numerous examples have been cited about the work conducted by individual scientists, engineers and different organizations. This review work expects a positive attention from its future readers towards nanorobotics; one of the marvelous sub-areas of nanotechnology.

Other than remote operation, sensing, feedback, automation; miniaturization comes out to be one of the precious contributions which is never expected to be left out from primary considerations.In this regard, robotics being a potential sector for research and industrialization, Nanorobotics has proven its worth. Nanorobotics can simply be defined as the miniaturization of robots to the scale of 10010000nm having components in the range of 1100nm.Nevertheless; the definition for Nanorobotics is not limited to nanomites, nanobots, nanoids and nanites. Any robot or machine capable of manipulation or measurement in nanoscale could be incorporated in the domain of Nanorobotics. Nanorobotics has casted its spell over a number of disciplines i.e. Atomic force microscopy, nano-sensing, drug delivery, nano-medicines, micro/nano-electro mechanical systems, single molecule car. With help of AFM surface roughness can be predicted in the nanometer scale i.e. extrusion of a particle in molecular dimension. Scientists have been able to diagnose cancer cells and lethal bacteria. Nanobots of various shape and size are now capable of inserting medication to the précised organs of human body traveling through veins. This technology is most popular for cancer medications where traditional treatments are not 100% through. The accuracy and precession of nanomachines cater to the needs of counting the no of molecules in a system; enabling engineers to predict the toxic content in a fluid. Galloping advancement is being possible in medical science with advent of Nubots (nucleic acid robots) which can contribute in DNA test analysis and blood cell detection. Single molecule car; a nanoinfrastructure has been developed by chemical synthesis of carbon nano materials with Buckyball wheels. Nanosensors are the result of nano-electro mechanical systems. These devices can control microchip enabled bugs (used by secret service/defense organizations to spy over enemies from a remote location) and receive signals or send commands accordingly.

I. Introduction The term nanotechnology is self-explanatory. Research pertaining to molecular scale has been attributed to nanotechnology so far. With increased demand of nanotechnology and related material science, the definition for nanotechnology is being broadly modified day by day. To classify the domain of such an outstanding research era for future; nanotechnology has been defined as the research concerned with manipulation of materials sized from 1 to 100 nm at least in one dimension. With the advent of smarter and superior materials nanotechnology has left its footprint over several engineering and basic science sectors. Starting from nanocomposite to nanomedicine, nanobiology, nanoelectronics, Nano-electro-mechanical-systems and Nanorobotics; most of the high-tech researches are being patronized by nanotechnology. Robotics is the technology which deals with designing, manufacturing and handling of automated or manually operated machines (robots). Being one of the powerful tools; now-a-days robotics is being adapted by various research as well as industrial organizations to enhance and optimize their work. The remote sensing capability of humanoid robots is getting popular these days to reduce risk from humans venturing into hazardous work or research environments.

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II. Research History Scientists and engineers have been trying to miniaturize the machines to perform critical operations which are beyond the capacity of conventional machines or robots. This was the prime motivation behind nanorobotics. Although medical application has been the leading sensation to this research; different engineering and science spheres have never been obscure to nanorobotics. Since its inception in late 1990s industries as well as defense organizations are looking forward to its real-time applications in future. Billions of dollars have been invested in various research projects worldwide to nourish such an incredible robot technology which could change our way of living and redefine all sorts of

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2013 AICTE SPONSORED National Conference on Modern Trends in Engineering Solutions (NCMTES‐2013) 

scientific research. North-American and European universities, defense laboratories, energy departments and aerospace industries have focused their interest for development and characterization in this sector. Neurosurgery being one of the most critical as well as sensitive surgeries needs lot of care and concern while operating. The steadiness and accuracy of doctor’s hands play a key role for the success of surgery. In spite of years of experience and dexterity; the surgeons are prone to some unpredictable mistakes. To surpass this lacuna of human errors Professor Leo Joskowicz & his group from Hebrew University of Jerusalem have invented miniaturized robots to perform neurosurgery with precision in both positioning as well as targeting. Their robotic surgery technology is capable of targeting the inner brain nerves automatically with the feedback based image guided system. These nanobots are claimed to be self-guided with the installed program for exact movement during surgery. Pre-operation tests i.e. CT scan etc. provide the accurate data of brain structure from deep inside. This robot is fixed to the skull of patient with a head clamp and then it orients itself to a locked & best preferable position. This could assist the surgeons in way lot better than the existing technology. A group of Researchers from Robotics & Mechatronics Research Lab at Monash University (Melbourne-Australia), CAN center for Automation in Nano biotech (Sap PauloBrazil), Department of Urology at Thomas Guy House (Guy’s hospital-London) and Department of surgery at Monash medical Centre (Melbourne-Australia) have innovated a laparoscopic cancer surgery technology with the help of nanorobots. Although robotic laparoscopy has been in fleet of medical surgery, recent discovery of use of nanobots could boost the accuracy and precision for any critical medical challenges or sensitive patients. These scientists also have established a manufacturing technology from CMOS VLSI design in association with deep ultraviolet lithography. This method is claimed to be commercially viable and cheaper than other techniques. To validate this design and its implementation VHDL (Verification Hardware Description Language) comes out to be a handy tool being used in most of the IC industries. Chemical sensors have been used onboard to transmit vital biological environment inside the operating body. RF based resonators and nanoelectronics circuitry are claimed to be the power generators in the range of 1.7mA at 3.3V form the inductively coupled vibration waves transferred from outside.

Fig 1a (nanobots inside vessel in a simulation)[1]

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Fig 1b(graph showing time required v/s target achievement by nanobots respectively)[1] Declan Murphy &KasparAlthoeferet.al. from department of Urology at the most famous Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS foundation trust and King’s College School of Medicine have focused their research intensely on Urology Robotic Surgery. Under NSF grant researchers at Laboratory for Molecular Robotics from University of southern California were able to set up a method for nanomanipulation before 2003. Their design could manipulate correctly with the help of the tip of a Scanning probe microscopy. The work conducted by them concluded in a fact that a lot of automation is required to make molecular level robots come to practice. The complex architecture related to this kind of robotic design demands assembling single electron transistors, nanowires and Nano waveguides. In that year (2003), Ari Recquicha and other co researchers focused on the automation issues starting from error compensation SPMs to 3D nano constructions by layer wise fabrication (nanolithography). One of the biggest challenges concerned with nanobots are incorporation of organic/inorganic & biotic/abiotic species with sensors & actuators which requires tremendous precision control, advanced wireless telecommunication, remote power supply or generation procedure. The researchers have been able to position nanoscale parts on to a surface with precision with the help of sintering instead of previously used chemical gluing or pushing (by AFM tip). Although their demonstration involved latex nanoparticles, it is believed that sintering could overcome the challenge of positioning/fixing of nanoparticles while assembling nanorobots. In association with Prof Harry Atwater’s group from Caltech they have established a correlation between nanowaveguides and visible light spectrum by exploiting near field effects. The energy flow through wave form with the help of nanoparticles has a potential use in future regarding nanooptics. The creation of Plasmon from the excitation of nanoparticles by injection of light wave creates a scope for scientists to actuate nanobots through wave propagation. Drift compensation made possible to control the easy handling of AFMs without much of manual labor or intervention. By the use of Kalman Filtering techniques this group was able to control the thermal drift flawlessly. Last but not the least, for Nanorobotics selfassembly and automation is highly commended. The intense research activity conducted at LMR focused more on active self-assembly. For manufacturing and assembling nanoscale products needs much toil from a human hand. Handling a nanoparticle or Nano device is much easier for nanobot than

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2013 AICTE SPONSORED National Conference on Modern Trends in Engineering Solutions (NCMTES‐2013) 

any other system. The programmed command given to the robotic agents equipped with nanoscale handling instruments to build another replica as of itself could be more efficient and economical. Handling of nanoscale system being a pretty difficult job, this incentive to make nanorobots make othernanobots bears a promising future. The work of Dr. Robert A Freitas to implicate nanobots in advanced surgery of human cells would definitely hone the capability of surgeons. According to him the first idea of Nano medical surgery i.e. a nanoscale device can perform repair on the arteries of heart was proposed by Dr. Richard P. Feynman (Nobel Physicist) around 1959. The physic scholar has suggested the feasibility of self-manufacturing which could result in production smaller robots by robots of little larger size. With this concept nano scale (molecular) robots could be built up. Albert R. Hibbs a friend of Feynman seems to have supported the concept of nano surgery and expressed his confidence on this. In those early years, nanobots traveling through arteries to reach heart and operate the affected parts with tiny knives with help of remote sensing-feedback controlled guidance from a doctor monitoring the situation from outside, was pretty fanciful. But very soon Drexler, a graduate student from MIT, conducted a thorough research on this issue and published a technical paper which changed the face of robotics with a new term introduced as molecular manufacturing. With his reference a number of researchers started working on constructing nano biological cells which could interact with surroundings. To make the dream of nanobots feasible mechanical components in nanoscale are necessary. Hence, the concept of Nano gears and Nano bearings came up. Practically making a nano scale gear or bearing was not possible until 2005. Scientists focused on molecular mechanics to develop biological cells capable of serving same as that of gears or bearings in a nanoscale. The figure below represents Drexler’s overlap repulsion bearing design with ball-stick-space filling. In his design 206 atoms were present with contribution from carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and silicon. A shaft rotates within a sleeve ring of 2.2 nm in diameter.

Fig 3 (exploded-axial-side view of overlap repulsionbearing with 206 atoms respectively[18]

Fig 4 (end-side-exploded view of a planetary gear with 3557 atoms) [18]

Fig 2 (exploded-axial-side view of strained shell sleeve bearing with 2808 atoms)[18]

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Fig 5 (side views of a neon gas pump/motor with 6165 atoms) [18]

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Figure 5 shows a power source for the nanobots. This set up uses rotational impulse dynamics to produce power when acting as a motor. In 2000 a combined effort from UCLA and HP could result a nano computing device which is compatible with nano scale memory chips. Mechanically interlinked ring molecules “Catenanes” are being developed. Several other electronics corporations are working on to develop biological computer that is suitable for a molecular robot made of organic materials. Such memory sticks are made of ultra-conductive CNTs to help in faster data storage and transfer while processing commands and feedbacks. DNA directed assembly, self-directed mechanical assembly, protein directed assembly microbe & virus directed assembly are some of the best known nanoassembly techniques deployed for nanobots manufacturing. Due to small size the assembly has been always a challenge for engineers. Molecular biologist with help from mechanical designers has tried to design the positional assembly & molecular manufacturing. Adjusting the right part in right place simultaneously handling other nano devices to be installed is really tough. Diamond mechanosynthesis is one of the best run molecular selfmanufacturing techniques. Massive parallel manufacturing is the proposed commercial method to produce nanobots from industries. Arrays of AFM, SPM, and STM with robotic arms are installed in a station for parallel production of nanobots. IBM’s Zurich research lab has a great contribution in establishing self-molecular manufacturing procedure. “Respirocytes” are the artificial mechanical red blood cells. These cells act as a robot to provide extra energy to cells 3 more times than that of normal red blood cells by active glucose combustion. The figure below describes neatly the structure of Respirocytes.

Fig 6a(Internal Cutaway View of Respirocyte polar view)[18] Microbivores are mechanical white blood cells that are meant to destroy microbiological pathogens that harm our immunity. These microsized spheroidal artificial bio cells are able to eliminate septicemic infections in minutes to hours of time.

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Fig 6b (Internal cutaway view of Respirocyte—equatorial view)[18]

III. Current and Future Application As discussed above, biomedical sector expects maximum benefit from nanobots. Protecting our body cells from pathogens seems to be one of the precious implementations. Nanobots made of diamond coating and fullerene nanocomposites parts shows inertness inside human body from the immune systems. Successful simulation model of such nanobots are still waiting for practical application in near future. Energy sources for such nanobots are expected to be bodily acoustic vibration, metabolization of glucose cells. Nano computing devices installed onboard, function as the navigators and signal transmitters. They help to distinguish between cells, orient their way to desired organs, transmit feedbacks to doctors regarding the conditions of the cell and receive commands from the operator to perform exact medication to that cell. Chemotactic nano sensors chipped onto these nanobots analyze the surface antigen of the biocells and distinguish between other nanobots and particular human cell (which needs medication). The nanobots could be introduced inside body by mouth or nose pretty easily. When their job is over, nanobots are designed to be extracted by active scavenger system or defused through our excretory channels. For skincare much awaited nano-cosmetics seems to be feasible with incorporation of nanobots in creams. Inaccessible tasks like removing dead skin, managing lubrication in oil deficit and excessively oily skin areas, deep pore cleaning of inner skin layers and providing exact nourishment to affected skin areas would be possible. A smarter Mouthwash might come into existence where nanobots will reach remote locations inside mouth to clean them up which is beyond the capability of any toothbrush. More advanced nanorobotics can build up a floating swarm of nanobots which are able to exfoliate the damaged surface of a

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tooth instead of uprooting it. Bacteria or other infecting food particles stuck onto the gum could be washed away without destroying harmless flora of mouth. For deadly virus detection this technology proves to be an unmatched solution. Nanobots designed to distinguish intruder virus cells can prevent diseases by puncturing it. If the excretions from the invader are determined to be lethal then the whole alien cell has to be isolated from blood and disabled in an inert environment by the nanobots where no risk is impending to our immune system. Arteries in our body are most sensitive to cholesterol deposit causing deadly heart attack and numerous cardiac problems. Nanorobotics with the help of nano-cutters can trim out the interior of narrowed blood vessels to widen them for smoother blood flow. Damaged portions of arteries could be cured and normal functionalization of blood cycle be restored. The maximum permissible toxic content in human body is expected controlled by accurately measuring different chemical contents i.e. carbon dioxide etc. in blood. Much illustrated cancer treatment from nanotechnology is waiting to be structured in full fledge due to the advent of Nanorobotics.Cancer cells are different from normal body cells in the aspect that they grow at faster rate than the latter. Cancer results in human body when specific portions of DNA in any cell are duplicated a number of times than usual rate and some other parts get deleted. The combined unusual growth and depletion inside a body cell makes it weaker and finally such an infected cell dies causing severe reduction in body cells. For such kind of critical applications the nanobots are structured with DNA origami (DNA chains) by folding them to construct a shape like a barrel which works as the container for cancer-antibiotics. Swarm of nanobots could be injected in human blood stream and they can navigate towards the correct cancer cell by imitating as the receptor system for each cell. The on-chip data about the characteristics of particular cancer cell helps to find out the target from the crowd. After getting close enough towards the cancer cell, nanobot interacts with it while unlocking the ‘payload’ which is the medication for that cell. Scientists hope such procedure to be pretty decent and effective to fight out caner without any major bio-surgery or laser treatment. Chemotherapy which clouds the possibility of affecting other healthy body cells along with cancer cells could successfully be replaced with nano-treatment.

Fig 7(swarm of SIMULATED nanobots floating across cells in blood stream)[1]

Fig 8 (nanobots floating near the channel wall to detect E cathedral; the pink obtrusion is a cancer cell)[1]

Fi g 9 (locking and unlocking mechanism of nanobots while providing medication to cancer cells)[19]

Table -1 [19 ] System

Domain

Control

Propulsion

Payload

Size& Weight

Endurance

BATMAV (Wasp III)

Air, 50-500ft operating altitude, 10k ft max altitude

autonomous

Fixed wing, propeller, battery powered

GPS/INS navigation, autopilot, 2 highresolution video cameras (front/ side look), IR, L- band(1-2 ghz) data link

12*16in,1ib

40mph, minutes

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2013 AICTE SPONSORED National Conference on Modern Trends in Engineering Solutions (NCMTES‐2013) 

TACMAV

Same as above w/ 11k ft max altitude

Same as previous

Same previous

Toughbot

Ground

remote

Wheeled, battery powered

Throwbot

Ground

remote

as

Same previous Other than medical applications Nanorobotics holds a potential key to the brighter future in military incentives. Scientists at Air command and Staff College from AIR University have predicted to include nanobots practically in field operations of USA military around 2035. The table presented above gives an overview of current miniaturized robotics serving the fleet of USA military. When it comes to full-fledged defense based nanorobots there could be two possibilities of operation; one is nanoscale manipulation which is currently existing and other being the true micro robots with nanodevices onboard. The true nanorobots are still a theoretical concept for defense scientists till date with a strong believe that the ongoing research would result a biological compound having DNA or proteins to be capable of interacting with environment in an intellectual way. Still the concept behind nanobots in war field is bit different according to Let. Col. Jack A. Jackson. The most ambitious future concept of operation from the desk of 1995 chief of staff of air force is air attack, aerial espionage and space dominance. In adverse weather conditions swarm of nanobots could venture into the enemy fortress and attack their system in various ways i.e. electromagnetic radiation interruption, feeding back live video footage of their warheads and direct attack by interjecting bio-hazards etc. These microbots are easy to deploy in any environment through dispersal aerosol or transporting by a larger platform or flying/crawling anatomy. Apart from active warfare nanorobots are considered to be an asset for intelligence data gathering, surveillance, indoor/outdoor reconnaissance, sensing of lethal bio weapon, target confirmation, prevention of cyber-attack. USAF Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Plan and Unmanned Systems Integration Roadmap are two major military programs launched by Department of Defense require micro/nano robots for better maneuvering. IV. Market niche and Global Scenario Nanotechnology being an emerging sector for smarter future; a number of industries have shown their inclination towards design, manufacturing and assembly of nanorobots. Such a revolution to make nanorobots hit the market is yet in its inception phase. But the growth rate of investment in Nanorobotics by several business and research corporations seems to be beneficial for mankind. Quantum International Corporation, a Canadian company has gone too far and successfully discovered a way of maneuvering tiny micro-scale robots inside blood vessels of living creatures. They claim that with the help of magnetic coils inside a MRI machine these microbots

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as

Same as except no IR

previous

2 video cameras, audio sensor

50 mph,25minutes

6*8 lbs

2 hours

in,2.1

1 video camera

6*2.5 in,12 2 hours oz would be guided deep inside human body with onboard wireless-chip technology. The commercial use of such robots is yet to take place because of delay in human testing. If succeed this can be a real time solution for cancer treatment according to Quantum CEO Robert Federowicz. The company expects the commercial market to respond their product with tremendous interest. Other than Quantum Corporation, Intuitive surgical, iRobot Corporation, Dover Corporation etc. are some of the surgical-pharmaceutical companies patronizing Nanorobotics. These organizations have been active in the research & development of advanced robotics surgery and wireless based remote control medical operation. V. Conclusion Nanorobotics has so far proved its incredible future potential in various area i.e. medical, surgery, defense, aerospace research, automotive, molecular manufacturing, nanoelectronicsand micro/nano electro mechanical systems. Technologies like molecular manufacturing, self-assembly, bottom up building are some of the cutting edge topics which hold the rein to success for nanorobotics. Apart from just building biological molecules, real nano scale robots made of smart materials with all possible dynamics and function must attract industries from various sectors. The real time nanobots to hit the market would take couple of years or decades. Ultimate goal could be achieved when a platform will be established on which a living or nonliving molecular structure can interact with surroundings i.e. communicate through RF signal, get energized by ambient heat or generate own power from decomposable products (i.e. glucose) and have nano gears/bearings to manipulate each & every kind of job in that scale. Other than just existence, nanobots must be durable enough to be trusted before sending for any critical mission. Stability, accuracy, life cycle, performance, economy, cost of manufacturing, design constraints, supporting high end technology are big concerns which tons of scientists are working hard all around world. Feeding program is an easy way to maneuver any autonomous device. In case of nanobots, the smaller size constrains no of onboard chips. While being in operation nanobots need to be in constant feedback & guided command from the operator. Transmissions of data as well as energy to and from the nanobots arepestering facts.Work culture of nanorobotics entails all form of high end technologies on the same stage. Extreme precision algorithm, durable smart material, efficient Nano-electromechanical systems and ecofriendly molecular selfbuilding bio organisms seems to be key aspects for any kind of nanorobotics. The soaring interest for such a

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20*21in,1lb

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promising topic must be energized all through and larger invests from pharmaceuticals as well as other industries should be acclaimed.

Reference 1. A. Cavalcanti, B. Shirinzadeh et.al.; Nanorobots for Laparoscopic Cancer Surgery, 6th IEEE/ACIS International Conference on Computer and Information Science (ICIS 2007), 0-7695-2841-4/07. 2. A. Cavalcanti, B. Shirinzadeh, R.A. Freitas Jr., L.C. Kretly; Medical Nanorobot Architecture Based on Nanobioelectronics, Recent Patents on Nanotechnology, Bentham Science, Vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 110, Feb. 2007. 3. Cavalcanti, R.A. Freitas Jr.; Nanorobotics Control Design: A Collective Behavior Approach for Medicine, IEEE Transactions on NanoBioScience, Vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 133-140, Jun. 2005. 4. A. Cavalcanti;Assembly Automation with Evolutionary Nanorobots and Sensor-Based Control applied to Nanomedicine, IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology, Vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 82-87, Jun. 2003. 5. Declan Murphy et.al.; Equipment and Technology in Robotics, Arch. Esp. Urol., 60, 4 (349-354), 2007 6. Kawasaki, E.S.; Player, A.;Nanotechnology, nanomedicine, and the development of new, effective therapies for cancer. Nanomedicine: nanotechnology, biology & medicine, 101-109, 2005. 7. Y. Guo (ed.); Selected topics in micro/nano robotics for biomedical applications, Springer Science + Business media, ISBN 978-1-44198410-4,New York, 2013 8. A. L. Yarin; Nanofibers, nanofluids, nanoparticles and nanobots for drug and protein delivery systems, Scientia Pharmaceutica, doi:10.3797/scipharm.cespt.8.L02, 2010 9. A. Requicha, et.al.; Nanorobotics, NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Grantees Conference, Dec 16-18, 2003 10. S. A. Maier, P. G. Kik, H. A. Atwater, S. Meltzer, E. Harel, B. E. Koel and A. A. G. Requicha; Local detection of electromagnetic energy transport below the diffraction limit in metal nanoparticle plasmon waveguides, Nature Materials, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 229-232, April 2003

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11. A. A. G. Requicha; Nanorobots, NEMS and Nanoassembly, Proc. IEEE, Vol. 91, No. 11, p 1922-1933, November 2003 12. B. Mokaberi and A. A. G. Requicha; Towards Automatic Nanomanipulation: Drift Compensation in Scanning Probe Microscopes, submitted to ICRA 2004. 13. E. Harel, S. E. Meltzer, A. A. G. Requicha, M. E. Thompson and B. E. Koel; Fabrication of latex nanostructures by nanomanipulation and thermal processing, Nanoletters,Vol. 5, No. 12, p 26242629, December 2005 14. A. G. Requicha, S. Meltzer, R. Resch, D. Lewis, B. E. Koel, and M. Thompson; Layered nanoassembly of three-dimensional structures, Proc. IEEE Int'l Conf. on Robotics and Automation, Seoul, Korea, pp. 3408-3411, May 21-26, 2001. 15. A. G. Requicha; Nanorobotics, in S. Nof, Ed. Handbook of Industrial Robotics. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2nd ed., pp. 199-210, 1999 16. A. G. Requicha, C. Baur, A. Bugacov, B. C. Gazen, B. Koel, A. Madhukar, T. R. Ramachandran, R. Resch and P. Will; Nanorobotic assembly of two-dimensional structures, Proc. IEEE Int'l Conf. on Robotics & Automation, Leuven, Belgium, pp. 3368-3374, May 16-21, 1998. 17. Baur, B. C. Gazen, B. Koel, T. R. Ramachandran, A. A. G. Requicha, and L. Zini; Robotic Nanomanipulation with a Scanning Probe Microscope in a Networked Computing Environment, 4th International Conference on Nanometer-Scale Science & Technology, Beijing, P. R. China, September 8-12, 1996. Published in J. Vacuum Sc. & Tech. B, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 1577-1580, July/August 1997. 18. Robert A. Freitas Jr.; Current status of Nanomedicine and Medical Nanorobotics, Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience, Vol. 2, 1-25, 2005. 19. Paul E. Kladitis, Major USAF; How small is too small? True microbots and Nanobots for military application in 2035, Graduation dissertation, Air command and staff college, Maxwell Air force base, Alabama, April 2010 20. http://www.wifinotes.com/nanotechnology/whatis-nanorobotics.html

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