|
Nanorobot pioneer reveals status of
simulator, stem cell work |
|
|
|
|
Written by Jane Salodof MacNeil
|
|
Thursday, 24 February 2005 |
|
Adriano Cavalcanti Adriano
Cavalcanti is Chairman and CEO of Center for Automation in Nanobiotech
(CAN) -- created in 2004 through the collaboration of private funds. CAN as
a private company focuses on investigation of new paradigms for innovation
in systems and automation design. CAN main thrust and aim is the
development of commercial nanobiotechnology
systems and devices that may benefit people around the globe with
biomedical engineering advances. Pedal back to 1966,
and a miniaturized medical repair team caroming through the blood stream
was the stuff of science fiction. Today the premise explored in the movie
Fantastic Voyage is the stuff of nanotechnology, as scientists race to
build nanorobots that can diagnose and heal the
sick from within the human body. Human guinea pigs are a long way off,
however. Researchers need a way
to design, test and refine nanorobots in
real-life clinical conditions before they can hope to take nanorobots into the clinic. Enter Adriano Cavalcanti, PhD, and his colleagues in the At the end of this
month, Cavalcanti will describe this ongoing work
toward making nanorobots viable in a tutorial at
the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)’s Design
Engineering Technical Conference in The Q&A follows: Q: What is the
NCD simulator? Cavalcanti: The NCD is software
comprising several modules that simulate the physical conditions, run the nanorobot control programs determining their actions,
provide a visual display of the environment in 3D, and record the history
of nanorobot behaviors
for later analysis. Our main thrust is toward implementing a practical,
effective architecture and a scientifically valuable tool to enable
investigation of nanorobot design, control, and
automation. The range of applications envisioned is exciting, and a broad
core of study cases is coming up. The possibility to customize code for new
investigations is also a positive feature in the software. Q: What will
be new in your presentation in Cavalcanti: The NCD has a modular
architecture, and we are increasing gradually its complexity and the environment
parameters -- as well as the different investigations in biomedical
engineering applications. The work at the ASME conference will focus on the
automation of nanorobots applied to controlling
chemical concentrations for a 3D workspace monitored by nanorobots.
We are planning to
include some new screen shots from the simulator. For example, in the
coming months we will disclose the results from new work applying nanorobots to coronary problems, as well as a detailed
investigation into nanorobot communication
techniques. These new results will be fully available very soon with others
we have previously published at http://www.nanorobotdesign.com/.
Q: Why are
computer-generated models necessary to the development of nanorobots? Cavalcanti: The development of nanorobots is an emerging field with many open issues.
Simulation is an essential tool for exploring alternatives in the
organization, configuration, motion planning, and control of nanodevices exploring the human body. Simulation can
include various levels of detail, giving a trade-off between physical
accuracy and the ability to control large numbers of nanorobots
over relevant time scales with reasonable computational effort. Another advantage is
that simulation can be done in advance of direct experimentation.
Controlling large numbers of nanorobots is very
challenging. It is most efficient to develop the control technology in
tandem with the fabrication technologies, so that when we are able to build
these devices, we will already have a good background in how to control
them. Hence, the design and
the development of complex nanosystems with high
performance can be well analyzed and addressed
via simulation to help pave the way for future use of nanorobots
in biomedical engineering problems. In vitro experimentation is at present
possible only on the materials we expect to use in the fabrication of nanorobots -- and not on entire nanorobots,
which are still being developed. Q: What are
the challenges to development of medical nanorobots? Cavalcanti: The main challenge is the
need to a method for building complex devices to molecular precision. This
is easiest in the biological realm, where biological nanorobots
using genetic cassettes inserted into minimalist microorganisms
(~250 genes) are already in fast development using the methods of synthetic
biology. More complex and
capable medical nanorobots (www.nanomedicine.com)
fabricated from diamondoid or other similarly
rigid materials await mainly our ability to do positional mechanosynthesis. Diamond mechanosynthesis
has been shown to be feasible in numerous recently published papers and
books (foresight.org/stage2/mechsynthbib.html). There are theoretical
proposals to create the first experimental tools for diamond mechanosynthesis, and mechanosynthesis
using individual silicon atoms has already been demonstrated
experimentally. Q: You have
suggested the first applications will be available in 10 years’ time.
Why is this a realistic timetable? Cavalcanti: Developments in the field of biomolecular computing have demonstrated the
feasibility of processing logic tasks by biocomputers,
a promising first step toward building future nanoprocessors
with increasing complexity. There has been progress in building biosensors
and nanokinetic devices, which also may be
required to enable nanorobots’ operations
and locomotion. Classical objections related to the feasibility of
nanotechnology have been considered and resolved, and discussions of
techniques for manufacturing nanodevices are
appearing in the literature with increasing frequency. Actually, the
manufacturing of nanotransistors and nanodevices is being pursued gradually with remarkable
successes. For example, by 2016 high-performance integrated circuits (ICs)
will contain more than 8.8 billion transistors in a 280 mm area -- more
than 25 times as many as on today’s chips built with 130 nm feature
sizes. At the present rate of
progress, the first biological nanorobots should
be available within five years or less. More sophisticated nanorobots will naturally appear through the
development of diamondoid mechanosynthesis
and structures. It will also be at least five years until diamond mechanosynthesis can be demonstrated in the lab, and at
least five years after before any significant diamondoid
structures can be built to specifications. In both cases, we will need
proven control methodologies to be available. We can best prepare by doing
simulations today. Q: You have a
paper in preparation on design of nanorobot
control simulation for stem cell manipulation. Can you tell us about this
work? Cavalcanti: We have a set of works in
development for stem cells. The first announced work is to get an overview
of possible approaches to using nanorobots to
recognize and capture bone-marrow stem cells for medical applications. The
second work announced recently is an applied study, where nanorobots inject bone marrow stem cells to treat
diabetes. Nowadays we may see stem cells and nanorobots
as one of the most intriguing fields of research, where the going advances
in both fields together have a spectacular synergetic impact on our future
life span. Q: Do you have
any plans to commercialize your work? Cavalcanti: Considering the importance of
nanorobot control, design and manufacturing, and
observing the possible applications that nanorobots
face, we plan to commercialize the system. Probably a first trial version
could be included in one of the books that we are preparing. After that, we
have also a project to disclose a more detailed NCD version with a module
that could permit users to define specific parameters and load 3D models
easily and more friendly. As a research
scientist, the plan is gradually to open a research center
that could enable a growing technical international network exchange with
private companies, research institutes and universities. This could be a
practical way to enable investors to participatein
the development of commercial nanobiotechnology
systems and devices that may benefit people around the globe with
biomedical engineering advances. Q: What is
your next step? Cavalcanti: A keen observer could
visualize with reasonable acurity that our
society lives in a remarkable age, where bridges for the future are being
constructed and pursued step by step. Today we can produce knowledge and
technical advances in unbelievable speed, enabled by the actual computers
as ancillary facilities. In this scenery, nanobiotechnology
and robotics could be viewed as breakthroughs for the very near revolution
that we are going to produce in human history. My aim is to keep
working on implementation of new concepts and investigation of control and
design of nanorobots, focusing on the fast
development of nanotechnology with its applications in medicine and biotechnology.
The next possible steps could be the joint investigation of nanorobots and nanoelectronics.
With coming important technological developments, their link is very
interesting -- it is possible that nanorobots
could be composed by nanolectronics as well as
that nanoelectronics and devices could be
manufactured by nanorobots. We have a set of
projects and works on the way. For example, we are making extensive
investigations into nanorobot designs, such as
motion strategies for low energy consumption, nanorobot
decentralized control techniques, and collective behavior
design in face of biomedical parameters for specific cases, just to quote a
few. Contact Adriano Cavalcanti at This email address is being
protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it . Reprinted with
permission from NanoBiotech News, published by
NHI Publications, All rights reserved.
For subscription information call (800) 597-6300. |
