[ExI] An Army of Microscopic Robots Is Ready to Patrol Your Body

[Adrian Tymes]

Twenty years further.

On Sat, Sep 12, 2020 at 5:07 AM John Grigg via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> How far do you think we will be in twenty years time?
>
> On Sat, Sep 12, 2020 at 3:14 PM Adrian Tymes via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
>> Well yeah.  Just stating so we know how far this has already gotten.
>>
>> On Fri, Sep 11, 2020 at 11:17 PM John Grigg via extropy-chat <
>> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Adrian Tymes wrote:
>>> "These robots are apparently on the tens of micrometers (microns) - that
>>> is, thousands of nanometers - across."
>>>
>>> Well, you gotta start somewhere! Lol Eventually, scientists and
>>> engineers will shrink them down to proper Drexlerian proportions...
>>>
>>> John
>>>
>>> On Wed, Sep 9, 2020 at 11:31 PM Adrian Tymes via extropy-chat <
>>> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> These robots are apparently on the tens of micrometers (microns) - that
>>>> is, thousands of nanometers - across.
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Sep 9, 2020 at 2:06 AM John Grigg via extropy-chat <
>>>> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> "If I were to picture futuristic bots that could revolutionize both
>>>>> microrobotics and medicine, a Pop-Tart with four squiggly legs would not be
>>>>> on top of my list.
>>>>>
>>>>> I was so wrong.
>>>>>
>>>>> Last week, Drs. Marc Miskin*, Itai Cohen, and Paul McEuen at Cornell
>>>>> University spearheaded a collaboration
>>>>> <https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2626-9> that tackled one
>>>>> of the most pressing problems in microrobotics—getting those robots to move
>>>>> in a controllable manner. They graced us with an army of Pop-Tart-shaped
>>>>> microbots with seriously tricked-out actuators, or motors that allow a
>>>>> robot to move. In this case, the actuators make up the robot’s legs.
>>>>>
>>>>> Each smaller than the width of a human hair, the bots have a blocky
>>>>> body equipped with solar cells and two pairs of platinum legs, which can be
>>>>> independently triggered to flex using precise laser zaps. The control is so
>>>>> accurate that the team was able to simultaneously jigger the legs of a
>>>>> battalion of microbots in a coordinated “march.”
>>>>>
>>>>> If you’re not impressed yet, there’s more: unlike previous microbots
>>>>> that relied on magnetism to move, these are basically miniaturized robots.
>>>>> Like BigDog <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BigDog>, they have
>>>>> mechanical legs that are controlled with silicon-based electronic
>>>>> components. This means that it’s possible to manufacture the bots en masse
>>>>> using decades of nanofabrication experience, similar to how we currently
>>>>> make computer chips
>>>>> <https://singularityhub.com/2020/08/23/moores-law-lives-intel-says-chips-will-pack-50-times-more-transistors/>
>>>>> .
>>>>>
>>>>> Because the robots’ “brains” are conventional and based on classical
>>>>> electronic circuits, it also means that they can be more easily integrated
>>>>> with existing logic circuits to engineer even “smarter” next generations
>>>>> that respond to more complex commands.
>>>>>
>>>>> “[The authors] have used a fresh design concept for their
>>>>> microrobots,” wrote
>>>>> <https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02421-2> Drs. Allan
>>>>> Brooks and Michael Strano at MIT in an accompanying piece of the paper.
>>>>> “Because the actuators can be operated by the low-power electric currents
>>>>> that typically flow through electronic circuits, sensors and logic
>>>>> components could be seamlessly integrated with the actuators …This opens
>>>>> the doors for the last 50 years of micro-electronics research to be
>>>>> incorporated into robots <https://singularityhub.com/tag/robotics/>
>>>>> so small they can’t be seen by the human eye.”"
>>>>>
>>>>> [image: nano robo.jpg]
>>>>> I look forward to hearing a comment about this development by Eric
>>>>> Drexler...
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> https://singularityhub.com/2020/09/08/an-army-of-microscopic-robots-is-ready-to-patrol-your-body/
>>>>>
>>>>>
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