Mechadense's Wiki about Atomically Precise Manufacturing
Atomically precise manufacturing (APM) is a prospective method of production for material goods of all sizes.
The products of this manufacturing method consist out of atomically precise parts. These constituent parts like e.g. bearings gears springs and housing structures have the smallest possible physical size that allows for their functioning. When assembled the systems they create strikingly resemble conventional factory-equipment that one finds at the meter scale but on the meter scale those new kind of clearly non biological products may well be designed to be smooth elastic and seamless a trait only biological matter illustrates today. In contrast to atomic scale biological systems those artificial atomically precise systems do not rely on thermal movement for their function, instead they operate in the machine phase. Out of various reasons diamond and diamond like substances are good building materials. All of the parts have their surfaces chemically plugged (passivated). Passivated surfaces do not bind to one another (not covalently to be exact). When they are aligned such that their atomic roughness can't intermesh they slide on each other wear free and superlubricating.
With exploratory engineering [1] it was shown [1] that AP products of the targeted type will perform better than most products out of materials known today and due to the decentral (at home / locally) and direct (raw material to product in one step) characteristics of the manufacturing process there is also reason to assume that AP products will be cheap in production. Combined those two properties may lead to drastic changes in human civilization over a short period of time giving us an opportunity to rapidly solve yet untacklable global problems but also presenting us to new kinds of dangers.
The technical details about the targeted kind of technology can be found in the book Nanosystems [1]. It contains details about math physics and chemistry behind those machines. Among other things there is explained why quantum uncertainty is not really a problem, why thermal movement is a solvable challenge and why knowledge about natural solution phase chemistry is not directly applicable to chemical synthesis in the machine phase (mechanosynthesis).
What this site is for?
This is a place to gather information specifically relevant for the attainment of an APM technology level.
Please read the info on the community portal before contributing.
What we have today is a puzzle of technological fragments. There are fragments of todays technology as well as fragments of future technology. Those fragments of future technology are to a certain degree credible since they are quite well accessible for theoretical investigation. The objective is to find and locate all the ends of the fragments that are located at the beginning of the timeline and to find out what work needs to be done to tie them together with the beginning of the fragments later in the timeline.
Other closely related topics are also welcome but are not the main objective of this site. E.g.:
- concise explanations (understandable by non scientists but not inaccurate) of the already known facts about AP technology AP manufacturing and AP products
- discussion of near and far dangers and opportunities.
Note: When contributing here please avoid using the term nanotechnology and use more precise and specific terms (APM related terms) instead.
History has led to the fact that "nanotechnology" now (2013) almost exclusively links to non atomically precise technologies.
Why do we need APM?
The prospective products of AP technology are a chance to solve the global problems of human civilization.
It is worrying that nonetheless public interest is declining. Also in wide parts of the world APM is as good as unknow.
The reason for that development could be:
- The rapid increase of non atomically precise nanotechnology was drawing all attention away. See history.
- A lack of a place where the importance of AP Technology is explained, exciting but not so near motivational examples are given and at the same time grounded technical aspects are shown. (This site here could be that place.)
One Proposed Pathway:
Going through several levels of technology: [add reference]
technology level 0 >> technology level I >> technology level II >> technology level III >>
further improvement at technology level III >> most speculative potential applications
The recently developed self assembling structural DNA nanotechnology and similar reliably designable structures might be a good starting point technology level 0. By introducing robotic (more precisely stereotactic) control one could reach something like a "block precise robotic technology" technology level I from there in a first step. In a second step one could change to e.g. Pyrite or Silica technology level II as building material to increase structural stiffness, reduce vibration amplitudes and get thus more placing accuracy. And finally in a third step one could switch from fluid phase to vacuum so that carbon and silicon can be assembled technology level III.
This very crude temporal outline is by no means the only possible way to go. There may be shortcuts or other paths.
"APM" is often used for technology level III exclusively but actually parts of t.level 0 and t.level I & II could in some sense too be counted to be atomically precise.
Note that the behavior of mobile electrons at the nanoscale is not as easily predictable as the behavior of mechanics at the same scale thus there's less exploratory engineering for nanoelectronics than nanomechanics.
