Current State-of-the-Art on Nanorobotic Components and Design

This chapter focuses on the state of the art in the field of nano-robotics by describing various molecular level systems and associated design and characterization issues. Nano-robots are controllable machines at the nanometer (10−9) or molecular scale that are composed of nano-scale components. With the modern scientific capabilities, it has become possible to attempt the creation of nanorobotic devices and interface them with the macro world for control. There are countless such machines that exist in nature and there is an opportunity to build more of them by mimicking nature. Even if the field of nanorobotics is fundamentally different than that of macro robots due to the differences in scale and material, there are many similarities in design and control techniques that eventually could be projected and applied. A roadmap towards the progression of this field is proposed and some design concept and philosophies are illustrated. There are many applications for nanorobotic systems and its biggest impact would be in the area of medicine.