Macroscale slowness bottleneck
Exploiting the high potential throughput of small scale machinery (at lower assembly levels)
can lead to macroscale robotics (at higher assembly levels) becoming a severe bottleneck
since its maximal throughput is low in relation.
This bottleneck would only apply when pushing the limits in throughput really hard.
That is: Literally shooting out a stream of products with speeds that macroscale robotics just can't handle anymore.
Producing this fast would unconditionally require leaving out any
higher assembly levels that reach up into macroscale robotics.
Going to this levels of throughput would also likely require big active cooling systems.
With radiators likely much bigger than the nanofactory itself.
Especially in space without convective cooling.
This bottleneck may
- rather likely not be present in the case of mechanosynthesis of new crystolecules from scratch (first assembly level)
since there is a lot of energy turnover leading to less energy efficiency more waste heat and thus slower operation. - likely be present in the case of re-composition of microcomponents where there is less energy turnover,
less waste heat and thus the possibility to perform faster. Thus macroscale robotics would need to be left out to push the limits.
Hopefully there will be better applications than only
destructive military ones for this technological capability that <be>
would undoubtedly be particularly impressive. If ever working.
Related
- Higher productivity of smaller machinery
- Scaling laws
- Fractal growth speedup limit
- Data IO bottleneck
External links
- Physical scaling laws enable small machines to be highly productive (from K. Eric Drexlers website)