Editing Nanorobotics (section)

=="Swallowing the Surgeon"==

{{MolecNano}}
According to [[Richard Feynman]], it was his former graduate student and collaborator [[Albert Hibbs]] who originally suggested to him (circa 1959) the idea of a ''medical'' use for Feynman's theoretical micro-machines (see [[biological machine]]). Hibbs suggested that certain repair machines might one day be reduced in size to the point that it would, in theory, be possible to (as Feynman put it) "''[[Molecular machine#Biological|swallow the surgeon]]''". The idea was incorporated into Feynman's case study 1959 essay ''[[There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom]].''<ref>{{cite web
 |url          = http://www.its.caltech.edu/~feynman/plenty.html
 |title        = There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom
 |first       = Richard P.
 |last       = Feynman
 |date         = December 1959
 |access-date  = 2016-04-14
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20100211190050/http://www.its.caltech.edu/~feynman/plenty.html
 |archive-date = 2010-02-11
 |url-status     = dead
}}</ref>

Since nano-robots would be microscopic in size, it would probably be necessary for very large numbers of them to work together to perform microscopic and macroscopic tasks.{{cn|date=January 2025}} These nano-robot swarms, both those unable to [[Self-replicating machine|replicate]] (as in [[utility fog]]) and those able to replicate unconstrained in the natural environment (as in [[grey goo]] and [[synthetic biology]]), are found in many science fiction stories, such as the [[Borg (Star Trek)|Borg]] [[Nanoprobe (Star Trek)|nano-probes]] in ''[[Star Trek]]'' and ''[[The Outer Limits (1995 TV series)|The Outer Limits]]'' episode "[[The New Breed (The Outer Limits)|The New Breed]]".

Some proponents of nano-robotics, in reaction to the [[grey goo]] scenarios that they earlier helped to propagate, hold the view that nano-robots able to replicate outside of a restricted factory environment do not form a necessary part of a purported productive nanotechnology, and that the process of self-replication, were it ever to be developed, could be made inherently safe. They further assert that their current plans for developing and using molecular manufacturing do not in fact include free-foraging replicators.<ref>
[http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/selfRep.html Zyvex: "Self replication and nanotechnology"]: "artificial self replicating systems will only function in carefully controlled artificial environments ... While self replicating systems are the key to low cost, there is no need (and little desire) to have such systems function in the outside world. Instead, in an artificial and controlled environment, they can manufacture simpler and more rugged systems that can then be transferred to their final destination. ... The resulting medical device will be simpler, smaller, more efficient and more precisely designed for the task at hand than a device designed to perform the same function and self replicate. ... A single device able to do [both] would be harder to design and less efficient."
</ref><ref>[http://www.foresight.org/guidelines/ "Foresight Guidelines for Responsible Nanotechnology Development"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190606014506/https://foresight.org/guidelines/|date=2019-06-06}} "Autonomous self-replicating assemblers are not necessary to achieve significant manufacturing capabilities."

"The simplest, most efficient, and safest approach to productive nanosystems is to make specialized nanoscale tools and put them together in factories big enough to make what is needed. ... The machines in this would work like the conveyor belts and assembly robots in a factory, doing similar jobs. If you pulled one of these machines out of the system, it would pose no risk, and be as inert as a light bulb pulled from its socket."</ref>

A detailed theoretical discussion of nanorobotics, including specific design issues such as sensing, power communication, [[navigation]], manipulation, [[locomotion]], and onboard [[computation]], has been presented in the medical context of [[nanomedicine]] by [[Robert Freitas]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=NMI Table of Contents Page |url=http://www.nanomedicine.com/NMI.htm |access-date=2025-01-10 |website=www.nanomedicine.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=NMIIA |url=http://www.nanomedicine.com/NMIIA.htm |access-date=2025-01-10 |website=www.nanomedicine.com}}</ref> Some of these discussions{{which|date=May 2025}} remain at the level of unbuildable generality and do not approach the level of detailed engineering.